X Doesn't Always Mark the Spot
by CartoonLover14
Summary: A girl named Taylor is thrust into the world of One Piece, literally. She can't remember what she came on the adventure for, but she knows why she's staying. And what happens when she's falling for a certain rubber captain? Please review.
1. Chapter 1

Hey you guys this is the second fan fiction I have ever written and after I thought about this idea it seemed like I couldn't help but write it. And I might get a few things wrong about the story live but you'll be able to understand it all in time okay? Okay, moving on to other things, this is a LuffyXOC fic. Now I normally don't read them but I couldn't help it, I had to write it.

Summary: A girl from our time accidentally get thrown into One Piece time… literally! Now what happens when Taylor can't remember what she came on the adventure for, just what she's staying for? And what happened to her brother and her friends? Can they find a way back home? More importantly, does Taylor want to go back home?

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**_X Doesn't always Mark the Spot_**

Dust flew up into my mouth and nose so heavily that I choked. "Taylor! Are you okay down there?!" I heard my brother asked me from somewhere up above me. I tried to speak but I couldn't with all the dust in my lungs. I'm half way positive that there is a disease that you can get from too much dust but that's not very important right now.

What is important is that fact that I have just fallen down fourteen or so feet and is stuck at the bottom of some old pirate battle ground. Gosh! How had my perfect going away party turned into such a mess? Well if you're wondering I'll tell you. Prepare for a long story.

* * *

"Hey Taylor what's this I hear about you're dad selling some pirate artifacts to a museum?" Zane asked as all my friends, my brother and I were all gathered around in my living room. Zane was holding a news cut out in his pale hands. I looked up into his shimmering emerald eyes and said, "Yeah, you know how we had a ton of pirate stuff from the great age of pirates?" I got several nods from my friends, "Well my dad sold some valuable things to them."

"Like treasure?" Nick asked excitedly. He was always trying to make a quick buck. I sighed, " No, Nick, not any treasure." his face fell with my words before I added, "We kept that for ourselves."

Nick was a year older than me and certainly looks it too. He has brown hair that's slowly turning a brighter orange and his eyes were chocolate brown, and very, very tall. "So you mean to tell me you have some treasure in your attic?"

"Maybe."

"You know after all the years I've known you, Taylor," Shay said from her spot on the couch next to Zane, "I don't think I've ever seen your attic."

I thought for a moment and then looked over to Alphonse. He nodded, with his long shaggy, blonde hair getting into his face, and smirked. With my eyes I silently asked my brother for permission to take my best friends up to the one place where history seemed like it was happening today. A moment later he sighed and said, "Sure Runt, take your friends up there."

With a yelp of happiness I lept from my seat on the second couch and I jerked Zane and Tommy up from their seats. Tommy yipped at the close contact, while Zane mearly followed. Tommy was such a flirt that he was surprised at the sudden movement and stumbled. I just kept pulling him along.

As I ran up the stairs to get to the second floor I could hear David, Shay, Grace, Sammy, and Alphonse coming up behind us. "What's the matter bro? Can't keep up with us girls?" Sammy shouted to Tommy. Grace shot past Sam and up to me, Tommy, and Zane. Her dark brown hair flowed past her as we shot around the corner. Her dark brown eyes glittered with mischief.

"Don't you dare!" I shouted. She smirked and flew up in front of me, disappearing around another corner. Swiftly I slammed my feet into the carpet and back pedaled as quickly as I could. Zane and Tommy on the other hand couldn't stop in time. They shot right into Grace's trap. They ran straight into a close line rope. Grace was laughing her head off at Zane and Tommy, so while she was destracted I ducked and shot past.

There were so many twists, turns, dead-ends, and you name in this house. That's because it used to belonged to some famous pirate. It even has him name engraved in a stone plaque out front on the gate. Problem is is that the name has slowly faded over time due to weathering.

Not only are there twists, turns, and dead-ends, there are traps. And the only person who knows the traps better than me is my brother. He was the one who found out about the traps.

"Slow down Taylor! You and Grace are disappearing!" David shouted. I turned my head around and saw them slowly fading in the distance. Only Grace was keeping up. In fact if she really wanted to, she could shoot right past me. She has to be the fastest girl I know.

Slowly the rope that you have to pull on the bring the stairs down appeared. Both Grace and I were speeding towards it so fast we had to grab it so we didn't run in to the wall behind it. I yanked the cord and the stairs swung down. We sat on the steps waiting for the others to come. Slowly they started to show up.

"Gosh Taylor! You practically pulled my shoulder out of place." Tommy told me. " What? Can't Tommy take being tugged on by a girl?" Zane teased. I shot Zane a look. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm not strong!"I shouted to him.

"Um, can we just go up there now?" David asked, trying to keep peace. "Yeah, sure." I said.

Slowly we walked up the stairs after my brother and I gave them all leactures about not touching anything or horse playing. It was like going back in time to the Great Age of Pirates. Everytime I come up here I always think of what it must've been like to be back then. The freedom, fighting, and fun. If we were back in that time I might've already left my town and became a pirate.

I had remembered where everything was a long time before, so to see somethings gone felt so strange. I also noticed something else there, something that hadn't been there before. It was a cabinet. Probably nothing. It was probably hidden behind something before.

Shay was looking at some pretty old books and blowing gently on them to to get the dust off of them. Same ol' Shay, always interested in books. "Hey what's this?" Sammy asked from somewhere behind me. She was balancing a globe that someone had drawn many years into the pirate age. "Hey put that down!" I said flipping out. Sammy looked down at me, shrugged her shoulders, removed it from her head, and put it back on its stand. I sighed a sigh of relief as it was placed back where it belonged. Suddenly I heard a rolling noise.

I jerked my head up just in time to see the globe about to take a nose dive off of the edge of the table. I jumped with my arms spread out and caught the globe. It was heavier then I thought so I took a few steps backwards, backing smack dab in to the cabinet. I grunted as the air was knocked out of me and feel forward, careful of the globe.

Suddenly I heard a creaking noise and turned around to see the doors fling open and me go right inside the cabinet. It was dark inside the cabinet, of course. I wiggled some so that I could maybe move the dreser off of me. Instantly I felt hands coming from behind me, lifting the cabinet.

As my brother and the rest pulled it off of me something fell out. "Are you okay Taylor?" Shay asked me concered. I looked up at her with her black hair and brown eyes, same as mine, and I could see my scared reflection in them. So if I said 'Yeah I'm fine,'they would know it was a lie. So I setteled for a, "Um, uh, I think so."

Suddenly Tommy was at my side helping me up. He kept asking me if I was okay and all the while was trying to flip his eye length blonde hair out of his eyes. "I'm okay Tommy." I assured him as I staggered to my feet. My eyes feel to the rolled up piece of paper that was lying on the ground where it had fallen out from the cabinet.

"But what's that?" I asked myself in a slight whisper. Slowly, almost like the paper would bite me, a walked over and grabbed it off of the ground. Careful since it was so old, I unrolled it and placed it on the table where the globe had been. Speaking of the globe I wonder where it was. Oh well, looking at what was written all over the paper I instantly for got the globe.

It was a map. A treasure map. Written as the title was, "Follow Your Dream through the Great Age of Pirates." The hand writing was very neat and in cursive. The writing was slanted very much to the right, too. _I've seen this writing somewhere before, _It thought.

"Whoa…. Is that…. A treasure map?" David asked. He was only a few months older than me, but sometimes his innocence amazes me. "Yes, David, this would appear to be a treasure map." Shay said. Her calm and on control voice never seemed to fail her. Even when we were staring at about three hundered -year- old map. "What could it lead to?" Sammy asked dazed. Grace looked over to me and then nudged me, and then said, "Well Taylor? What does it lead to?"

I looked up from the map and saw eight pair of eyes staring at me. "What are you guys all looking at me for?" I asked. Alphonse looked from Zane to Shay and then said, "Well you know way more about the pirate era than any of us. So if any of us would know it it would be you." Huh, never really thought of it that way. But it's an interesting thought.

I looked back down to the map. Of course it was a treasure map, but as Sammy had asked, where does it lead to? It showed a coast on it with some rocks off the east end. The rocks made an X shape, but that's not where the treasure was hidden. Or so said the little riddle here. "What does that say, Taylor?" Tommy asked pointing to the riddle.

"It says, "X won't always mark the spot. Make your own." I read out loud. Zane wrinkled his forehead and said, "What the heck is that suppose to mean? 'Make your own?'" he asked to no one inparticular. Which was good seeing as how no one awnsered?

Suddenly Grace whipped out her cell phone and was typing something into the internet address bar. "What 'cha doing, Grace?" I asked. She didn't even pause her rapid fingers as she replied, "Checking to see if there are any rocks in the shape of an X around here."

That's the Grace I know and compete with! She is a whiz at the interent while Shay is a whiz at books. Give Shay a dictionary and tell her to look up the word hangdog and she will close her eyes and open the book right to it.

"There! It says about twenty miles outside of town there are rocks in the shape of an X but they're not in the water. And there are no other rocks like that around here." Grace said. She looked so sad because she thought she had found it. We were all quiet except for the clicking of Grace's phone. In the silence Shay was flipping through a book while looking back and forth to the book.

Just as calm as ever Shay asked, "Taylor, what year was that map made?" I gave her a funny look. "How the heck am I supposed to know what year it was made?"

Nick sighed. "Gosh Taylor. Here!" he said as he leaned over and instantly found the date. He quickly replayed the date to Shay. Shay nodded. "A long time ago the sea level was different. So much differnce that half of the houses in this town, but not this one, would be under water right now." Her voice sounded eerily calm as she stated the fact that so many houses would be lost if the sea level was as it once was.

"So it's possible that the rocks a re the same?" Tommy asked. Shay seemed to think for a moment and just as she was about to say something Zane started talking, "You do know the odds of acutally finding a treasure there are like, a million to one, right?"

I turned slightly so that I was facing him. He didn't seem even slightly amused with the coversation. "What's your problem, Zane?" I asked him in an acid tone.

He glanced up from the map and then back down. Then he ploped down into the chair beside the table and rested his head in one of his hands. "My problem is, is that this map could be a fake. You know, to lead other pirates who wanted the treasure into folling this map, where they would have traps waiting for them. Or, if it's really a real treasure map, the odds of the treasure still being there after all these years- centeruries even- are very low. I mean some other pirates could've found it, or the pirates who put it there could've moved it. Not to mention, how long has your family owned this house? Several decades, am I right? And no one ever found this map and explored it?"

His tone was very calm, but forceful, almost willing me to not to get my hoes up too high. David, beside me, sighed and leaned slightly against me. I glared at Zane, who only shrugged at me. Alphonse stepped away from and walked over to the window. He was staring down into the huge, now darking, garden below.

"Gosh, Zane. You really do know how to be a killjoy." I said as I ran my right hand over the map and my left through David's hair. Boy, I wish I had as silky as hair as David has.

"I don't see myself as a 'killjoy,'" he said.

"I would!" I interrupted.

"I see myself more as a realist." he finished. "But if you want, I would be willing to follow you on this adventure." he said, smiling at me. My head jerked up. I gave him a huge smile and shouted, "Yes! Let's go see if the treasures still there!"

* * *

So how could that idea have gone so wrong? Well it all started after we got to the rocks.

* * *

"So there are the rocks. Right out there." Zane said. Guess when he wasn't too busy being a realist he was busy stating the obvise. "Yeeess." I told Zane slowly, like I was talking to a child, "Those are the rocks, and guess what this is in my hand, sand." I said as I picked some up off of the ground, slowling letting it run through my fingers and fall back to the ground.

Zane shook his head while Tommy laughed. Nick looked down at Grace's phone and checked out how to get over to the rocks. He had taken it from Grace since he is way better at reading a map than any of us. "So guys," Nick started only to be stopped by Sammy clearing her throat to get his attention. "And girls." he huffed with a sigh, "All we got to do is get over there. Not to mention look for something that looks like treasure."

Zane glanced over at us. "It doesn't matter if we get over there or not. The map said that X won't always mark the spot." I rolled my eyes, and retorted, "Well do you have any better idea?"

Zane didn't reply. Ha! Didn't think that he had a better idea.

* * *

To save time I'll just say that getting over to the rocks weren't easy. Alphonse kept triping over his own feet and landing very rudely on me, Nick kept shouting out different ways that we should be going, Zane was pointing out all the flaws with our plan, and Shay would walk silently along behind me.

Tommy meanwhile kept bugging Shay, Grace and I as we made our way over to the rocks. Well, at least he was bugging me I have no clue if he was getting on Shay and Grace's nevers. Sammy was bust making her brother, Tommy, trip over different things, when he wasn't bothering us of course. "So Taylor, are we going to find the treasure?" David asked. That was probably the eighth time he's asked that. Any ways I was pretty much ignoring him when he said, "Hey look!"

Lifting my head I saw there was quiet a few holes near us. "They're probably here due to the water eroding the rocks." Nick stated. "I wonder what year they were made around though. They look so old." Grace said. She ran her hand over the edge of one of the holes. She lifted her hand up and rubbed her fingers together making a disgusted face.

"Oh, gross! It's all covered in slime!" she exclaimed. Alphonse laughed at the look on Grace's face. I walked over t the side of the hole too. Glanncing down I couldn't see the bottom of the dark pit. I leaned over the edge, standing on my tippy-toes. "Don't fall!" Sammy shouted pushing me slightly, holding onto my wrists. I let out a very indignified squawk as I thought of falling down into the darkness.

Sammy laughed before yanking me back so that I didn't really fall in. My heart was pounding as I fell backwards into David. He quickly latched on to my arms before I tumbled backwards any further.

We stood around almost like we were waiting for something to happen. It was till around sundown so who would have thought that we would have needed flashlights? Obvisely not us. Maybe we just aren't sut out for this treasure hunting business.

"Well maybe we could try another one of these holes? Maybe they have better lighting?" David suggested. They all turned around to see if they could find a brighter hole. I still was standing around next to the pit. For some reason it seemed like it had something in it that was important.

Sighing I turned around, maybe my imagination was just running wild. Spinning on my heels I headed over to my friends where they stood over another hole.

_Crack, crack, crunch._ I gulped. What in the world was that noise? Suddenly my feet disappeared out from under me. I was plummeting into the darkness, something that I wasn't too fond of.

I shrieked as I fell. Nothing but darkness was rushing past me. Just as suddenly as I had fallen, I smacked the ground. My head spun and tumbled as if I was still falling. I squeezed my eyes tight from the pain as it slowly subsided.

Dust flew up into my mouth and nose so heavily that I choked. "Taylor! Are you okay down there?!" I heard my brother asked me from somewhere up above me. I tried to speak but I couldn't with all the dust in my lungs. I'm half way positive that there is a disease that you can get from too much dust but that's not very important right now.

I choked back several different pains so that I could get my voice to sound stoonge enough to speak. "Yeah. I'm fine… for the most part." I said. My voice sounded weak, even to me. I swallowed back the scram I wanted to let out when I moved my wrist. I don't think that I broke it because I could move it, but did it burn like heck when I did.

"Don't worry Tay-Tay. We'll find a way down there and get you out." my brother told me, trying to sound in control. But even though he was wanting to sound in control he was failing horribly. He voice was cracked with emotion and fear for my safty. It made me sick. What if one of them fell while standing there trying to find a way to get down here?

"Why don't you guys go get help? You could hurt yourselves trying to get down here." I said in a strained voice. I could still see Alphonse standing over the hole and there was a pause. A long- drawn out pause before he gave up and said, "Fine. But Zane and I will stay here with you, the rest of you go get help."

Good ol' Alphonse! Taking control of the rest of us. I mumbled a thanks up there as I heard several people scrambling away. Gingerly I sat up and flexed my limbs. Everything except for my right wrist was perfectly fine. Well, my head could be excluded from that but that's beside the point.

I stood up slowly, as if testing my egs for the first time in years. Looking up to the opening of the hole I could see the moon not slowly climbing up in the sky. How much time had passed already? "Uh, guys? How long have I been down here?"

"You've been down there for a while. You must've hit your head because you weren't talking back for a while." Zane told me. Funny. There was still so much dust in the air when I woke up. Must be because of poor ventalation. I noded my head only to remember a second later that that was so stupid because they couldn't even see me.

As I was nodding I saw something sparkle in the corner. I peeked back up at my brother and Zane and they were both still there, so why not go see what it was? The roof of the hole I'm in slanted a lot near the object so I had to crawl on my hands and knees. Wincing every time I had to use my right hand I finally made it over to the thing.

It was a sparkling necklace made out of gold. In the middle of it was a rather large diamond. I held the necklace in my hands and tried to pull it off of whatever it was hung around. I tugged hard one more time and shrieked when ever it did come off.

A skull fell in to my already bruised hands. I threw it at the wall with such great amount of force that it cracked. Alphonse and Zane were yelling at me asking what was wrong. But I felt parasailed. I couldn't even breathe. Because right after I heard the skull crack I heard water rushing.

Rushing right towards were I had thrown the skull. Rushing right through the hole the skull had made. I am in serious trouble.

* * *

_Hey guys! This is Sienna! I was wondering how are you guys? Well either way I'm having fun here in my small town. I could get this idea out of my head so I just had to write it. Now if you want it continued please review!!! _

_Read and review!_

_SK_


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys I hope that you enjoy this chapter of X doesn't always mark the spot!! Enjoy!

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Water was rushing into the old cave. Soon it would fill up and drown me unless I could get over underneath the hole that I had fallen through. But I couldn't. The water was surging through the hole I had made with the skull. _'Must've had a very hard head.' _I thought. The water was surging so much that it seemed to have a pulse and rhythm.

It would pull me one way, push me another and the back again. "Help me! Al! Zane!" I screamed shrilly. It was silly to even tell them to help me, because if they could they would've already.

"Taylor! What happened?" Zane asked, panic clearly laced in his voice. "Hel-help! W-w-water! Fl-flowing in!" I shouted, stuttering as I was thrown under by the waves. Zane screamed something out but I couldn't hear anything he said, because I was tossed under again.

Suddenly the rhythm changed and I was flowing towards the left, away from Zane, my brother, and safety. The walls around me were cold and hard as I was tossed into them. Spinning, I tried to swim back the way I came, but that just made me spin worse. Rocks scrapped by, hitting and cutting my arms and legs. I was too busy yelping in pain to notice the giant rock up ahead of me.

I noticed it a second too late. My head slammed into it and I was out like a light.

* * *

Slowly I opened my eyes and realized u was still underwater. Somehow after knocking myself silly, I had still managed to hold my breath. I must have only been out for a second though because I didn't feel like I was dying from no air. I tested y arms and legs. Nothing was broken but they were cut up and bruised.

The was no longer a current pulling me away from Zane or my brother. Swiftly I yanked my shirt loose from the dumb rock and started to swim back towards the hole. I easily made it to the cavern I had I had fallen into and it was filled with water, of course. Pushing with my legs, I stretched my arms through the hole, expecting to fell air, but didn't. I still felt water.

I pulled the rest of myself up through the hole and was still very surprised. There was still water up to about ten to twenty more feet. Now I know that I hit my head but I'm almost positive that there was no water here before.

I shook my already spinning head and started swimming upward again. Suddenly I saw a flash of red in the corner of my eye. Turning around I saw a teenage boy sinking towards the bottom. My chest was burning already but he looked like he was in trouble. His eyes were closed ad his mouth part way open.

'_He'll drown!' _I thought. Swiftly swimming over to him, I hooked my arms around his chest and started kicking towards the surface again. It's a good thing that I took so many swimming lessons and I was even a life guard one summer. The boy's lips were turning light blue and my vision was blurring. Pushing with my legs was all I could do since the boy was knocked out, so it was slow going.

'_Just a little bit… further.'_ I thought as more of my vison blurred. Now my vision was darkening, my chest was burning, and my legs were barely cooperating. At the edge of my vison I could see something- or was it a someone?- coming for us. I stared the person right in the eyes, but I couldn't even do anything. I stopped kicking and the boy and I started sinking again.

Next thing I know, I was out again.

* * *

When I woke up again is was on a stable surface. It was gentally rocking, almost like I was on a boat or a ship.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" asked a worried voice. The voice didn't even sound familer, so I wasn't one of my friends. "You two owe me even more for having to help haul you two out." said a scary sounding woman. I didn't really want to open my eyes, for fear of who I might see standing over me. But while I can help it if I open my eyes, I can't help it if I cough.

I sent out a rather loud chours of coughs that got the people's attention. I squinted one eyes open and looked up. There above me was a group of eight people, all looking down at me. One of them was the boy who had fallen into the water. He was laughing loadly and grinning like an idiot.

I stayed laying there staring up at them till one of the girls cleared her thraot and shoved something forward. The thing walked over to me and started checking me over, almost like a doctor. He would ask me questions every now and then but I wouldn't answer. I couldn't. It was just way too weird. The 'thing' wasn't just some hairy kid or really short person. It was a reindeer!

Eyes wide, I stared at him until he looked up and noticed I was staring at him. He stood there for a second and then let out a squeak and then ran behind some guy with a long nose. "Hey thanks! What's your name? Where'd you come from? How did you get down to the bottom? What were you doing down there? Where you burrying treasure?" The boy suddenly exploded. Seems he recovers very quickly.

Suddenly the woman with pretty, bright, orange hair grabbed him and put one hand over his mouth and said, "Luffy! Calm down! You aren't even giving her a chance to say anything!" She turned to a guy with blonde hair and said sweetly,- which shocked me how quickly her mood changed- "Sanji, could you go get Robin and I something to eat?"

The guy named Sanji, was suddenly spinning around like it was his job and saying something about how he would do anything she asked. She turned towards me and asked, "So what is your name?"

My throat felt very dry and I had to clear my throat before saying, "Taylor. Taylor Marx." she nodded her head and the other girl, Robin is what this orange haired girl had said her name was, came over and stuck her hand out to me. I took it and she pulled me up.

"So what were you doing down there?" asked a green haired man boredly. I was freaking out on the inside but I kept a calm face on the outside. What was I going to tell them 'oh I was just looking for treasure?'

So if I couldn't tell the truth, I lied. "Oh, well haven't you heard of a midnight swim? Well I was taking one." I said. The green-haired man didn't seem to buy it, but shrugged his shoulders anyways. I kept shooting a look over to te reindeer but I was trying to act like it was something that happened everyday. After all, these guys didn't seemed too fazed by it.

"So… have you guys seen my best friend or brother?" I asked them. I received very odd stares from everyone but the boy, who was till grinning like an idiot. "Exuse me, um, Taylor, was it? We haven't seen anybody for almost three days now." Robin said. "Noooo. My brother and Zane were here like, how long was I out?" I paused and asked. "Around five minutes." the long nose boy said. "Well then my brother was here before that!" I shouted.

Long nose backed up a bit along with the reindeer. Robin was calm and stuck her hand to my forehead. "Chopper I like she might have a fever." She said and looked at the reindeer. The reindeer- Chopper- nodded his head and walked slowly over to me, inching like I was going to hurt him. I shoved Robin's hand off of my head and to get it through their heads said, " I'm-not-sick-my-brother-and-my-best-friend-was-here!"

Despite all my protests Chopper kept checking me over. Sanji came back out and gave Robin and the girl that I learned from all of Sanji's cooing over her -which is Nami- and Robin. After a bit he came over to me and was saying stuff like, "Oh, Taylor! Even after almost drowning you look beautiful!" Which I really don't get because I had cuts all over my arm ad legs and a hole in the side of my shirt from the rocks. Not to mention my hair had come out of it's ponytail and was sticking out in odd directions.

Later I learned that the one with the logn nose was named Usopp, the green haired one was named Zoro, and then there was Chopper, Robin, Nami, Sanji, and at last Luffy. He is super hyper. Even more hyper than the Gilbert twins that used to babysit.

After denying that I was sick they still took me to the girls room to lay down. Trust me the last thing I wanted to do was lay down right then. I had to find out where I was, where my brother and Zane were, and what who exactly these people were.

But at the moment I was lying in Nami's hammock listening to these strange new people talk. "What should we do about her?" asked Chopper. Obviously they were talking about me. "Maybe we could check the next island. Her brother and her friend could have floated there." Robin suggested.

"Do you think she is okay? I mean stable?" Usopp asked. Great now he thought I was crazy? Just because I told them that there was dry land here, and that I had fallen through a hole down there, they thought I was crazy. Well yeah maybe I did sound a bit crazy.

"She seems fine. I bet she's mysterious. What was she doing down there?" Luffy rambled on and on some more but I tried to ignore him. He hadn't shut up, nor got any of his answers to his questions because Nami and Robin had put me in their room.

"So she's staying on board till the next island?" Zoro asked boredly. I noticed he must like that tone a lot. "Well of course she's staying on board Marimo! We wouldn't dump a gorgous girl like her off in the middle of no where!" Sanji shouted at Zoro. I could hear them start to fight as Nami went on to talk about something else.

_Where am I? Where was my brother? And what about Zane? Man, I wish Shay was here. She was always so calm and right now I need someone who's calm._

* * *

_Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter of X Doesn't always mark the Spot. I enjoyed writing it but kept getting disracted. I would've had this chapter up sooner but last night we had a tornadoe come by here and knocked out our power. I had so much more written and it's going to be in the next chapter so hopefully you guys can wait that long! And don't forget to check out my account._ **Go to photo and search for PirateMaximum and there you are! Picture of Taylor and Max and soon more!**

_Thanks to reviewers:_

**LuffyxRuby**

_And _

**Rebabe**

_Peace, read, and review! _

_SK_


	3. Chapter 3

Funny, they thought was the one who was crazy. I'm the only normal one on this ship! Turns out this Luffy kid can't even swim and he has already fallen off the ship almost eight times! And each time the same person would jump off and get him. Me.

For some reason Zoro-who normally gets him from what I've been told- was deffinatly snoozing up a storm. I shook the water off of my-Nami's- clothes for what felt like the thousandth time today. The shirt was too large in the girlish figure deparment for my style but was still too tight in all the other departments. I was also wereing a pair of her shorts. They were too short since I have longer legs than her, yet I'm still shorter than her.

"Luffy why you fall in the water so much?" I asked him. He just turned his head and gave me a weird look but smiled and shrugged. "It's fine! The next time he does it the great Captain Usopp will get him!" Usopp shouted as he struck a pose. "I once saved him from four hundered sea monsters!" Chopper came over to him with stars in his eyes. "Really?" he asked innocently. It reminded me of David. "Did I say four hundered? I meant a thousand!"

I rolled my eyes at his lies. Sanji came over to me and was saying some random things about how beautiful I was. I rolled my eyes again. Sanji swung around to Luffy and started saying something about how the next time he fell over board and I had to get him he would kick him into next week. I walked away from the craziness towards the back of the ship only to trip on something.

"Oi! Watch where you're going!" he told me as I picked myself up off the ground. I couldn't believe it. He was the one who choose to sleep in the middle of the ship and he was criticizing me? "Why don't you choose a better place to sleep next time?" Zoro glared at me for a second before sighing and saying, "You're not worth it." and stalking off.

I grunted in frustration and kicked the wooden rail. My foot was throbbing but I was still so mad I huffed all the way over to the front of the ship, going to tell Luffy that the next time he fell in that I wasn't getting him. Just as I was about to tell him that there was a rumble.

My first thought was a plane going overhead. My second thought was a cannon fire. "Please be first, please be first, please be the first!" I whispered all the way the the figure head. Luffy was stading on it with his arms crossed and his head turned sideways looking at something.

Usopp was cowering over to my left and Sanji was lighting his cigarette. I couldn't see where Chopper was but my guess is that he went to find Nami and Robin.

"What's going on?" I asked. No one replied. "Hellooo! Anyone home?" I asked Luffy. He still had a confused look on his face as he cocked his head the other way. I followed his gaze over to the island that they must've been talking about. But I don't think that's what they were staring at. Blocking our way the the island was a large ship with cannons on the side.

_Must be where the noise came from, _I thought. The cannons where strange but that's not what caught my eye. It was the flag. A Jolly Roger was flying where their countries flag should be. "What is that!?" I asked.

Zoro rolled his eyes at me and said, "A pirate ship. Like the one you're on." What? Pirates? Aside from Somalia, pirates had been gone for what? A centaury? Something close to that at least. I glanced up at the sail and flag of the ship Going Merry. How had I not noticed the Skull with a stawhat?

I must have been too busy trying to keep Luffy from the water to notice. Suddenly there was a rumble and the ship started bucking.

They were shooting… at us!

I shook my head as more water washed over the side of the ship were I was. I cast a worried glance up to Luffy. He was still standing on the figure head still and was holding on to his straw hat now. He was smirking at the other pirate ship. Suddenly I could see one of the other people, uh, pirates, raise a gun this way. He pointed it right at Luffy and fired.

"Luffy move!" I shouted. Luffy just grinned at me and the bullet hit him. I let out a high pitched scream when it hit him. I swung around to see the other pirates ship coming fast.

"Hm." I swung around again, this time to face Luffy and the rest but was too quick and I slipped. I head whacked the deck so I deffinatly thought the next part was caused by it.

"You jerk! You almost hit my hat!" Luffy! That's not even possible! I saw him with my own eyes get shot! But there he was standing right behind the figure head now, which is where I'm guessing he landed. By now the ship was right along side Going Merry. Ropes swung over from the ship and people charged on board. Nami grabed her weapon from it's hiding place on her leg.

It looked just like a blue staff from some where that I've seen before,but I'm not sure. Zoro took out his swords and held them in his hands and teeth. Robin crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Usopp raised his sling shoot loaded with ammo, even though his knees were shaking. Sanji raised his leg in a threatening manor and Chopper transformed into a bigger Chopper. I only made a slight gasp when he did that so give me some credit.

We were easily outnumbered but that didn't stop them from fighting. Sanji took out quiet a few with his kick and I bet he could hold true to his promise to luffy to kick him into next week. Robin said something and then ten arms popped up out of the ship boards and knocked out ten of the storming pirates. Usopp tricked some by shooting eggs at them and then shooting something that was flammable.

While all this was going on I was stock still. What the heck was going on hear. Robin and Chopper must have a devil fruits, but those went extinct around the same time the pirates did. I was still a bit shocked that Luffy wasn't dead like he should have been that I didn't even notice some one come up behind me.

"Come on girl! You're coming with us." said a rough voice. A grip that was to strong to be a girls, yanked me back away from my postion by the figure head. He threw me over his shoulders so that my legs were on the left side and my head and arms on the right side.

"Put me down!" I shouted. He merely laughed at the thought and used the plank from our ship to their ship. "Help!" I screamed. Some one would have to hear me! The man who really needed to take a bath, shoved his dirty, smelly hand onto my mouth so I couldn't scream.

I bit down onto his hand and held my teeth there. He yelped at this and swung me into the railing of his ship. Pain rippled through me and I let out a tiny squeak and opened my mouth enough so that he could remove his hand.

"She bit me! She bit me!" he hollered as he grabbed his hand and danced around. I jumped up to run to the plank only to see that the rest of these 'pirates' as Zoro called them, coming back onto the ship. I back away as I noticed they had swords drawn and where heading towards me.

Shooting a glance past them I could see Zoro and Sanji starting to get up and after they -what I'm guessing- argued , Zoro jumped in the water. Nami was sitting next to Robin, trying to get what looked like cuffs off of her wrists. Usopp was doing the same to Chopper.

"Don't even think about it girl." said a man with dirty blonde hair and a sword closest to me. He shoved it at me making me step back some.

They started to sail away from the Going Merry and I started to panic. What if I couldn't get back to Going Merry? I backed up as far as I could go and hit the railing oppisite from Luffy and the others. Speaking of Luffy, I wonder where he is. I can't even see him now.

"Well lookie here. We got a girl and some treasure." Dirty-blonde said. He waved his hand over to a pile of gold that they had gotten from Nami. "She is going to be so mad!" I said quietly. I guess it wasn't quiet enough because Dirty-blonde looked over to me. "What was that?"

I gulped before I repeted my words. He laughed at the thought of Nami getting mad, but I didn't. I had seen her get mad at Luffy when he was bothering her earlier this morning. "Besides, what threat are they to us? They don't even have a captain anymore."

Now I might not have been with Luffy and the others very long but here are the things I DID know:

7.) Nami LOVES money.

6.) Robin LOVES to read.

5.) Usopp LOVES to tell stories.

4.) Zoro LOVES to sleep.

3.)Chopper LOVES to listen to Usopp's stories.

2.) Sanji LOVES women and cooking.

1.) Luffy LOVES meat and is the CAPTAIN!

So what did that mean? What had happened to Luffy? Oh! So that's why Zoro had to jump in the water. By now we were too far away to see if they had came out of the water yet and I was worried. "Don't worry girly," Dirty-blonde told me. "you can be part of our pirate crew."

"Why do all of you keep saying pirates? Pirates died out a long time ago." I shouted at him. These people seriously needed to learn ther history. Dirty-blonde gave me a weird look, along with all the others. "You hit your head or somthin'?" he asked me.

"Well actually I did and- hey that's not the point! What the point is is that there is no more pirates!" I shouted. "Listen here girl. We are pirates. So how can you say there isn't any pirates? You're in the middle of the Grand Line!"

I blinked, "Grand…. Line…?" I asked in a whisper. "Yeah. What you brain damaged or somthin'?"

That is impossible. The Grand Line hasn't been there since they started making easier ways to get to it. They even renamed it, although I can't remember what they named it . They made it safer so that way people don't need to take Reverse Mountain anymore.

I stood there looking so stupid and, well brain damaged. 'I_f this is the grand line, if I'm in it… then… then what happened to my brother and Zane? Where they transported here? And what is going on here? Pirate, Grand Line, add One Piece and Pirate Kings and we'll just have a whole crazy mix!'_

I slide down the railing so that I was sitting against it. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. My head was spinning so badly that I couldn't hear some shout, "Taylor, what are you doing?"

I peeked open my eyes and saw Luffy standing there. He was standing on the railing opposite of me and was smiling brighty. Not to mention dripping wet. "Hey kid, get down from there! These are our prizes now!" Dirty Blonde said, gesturing towards me and the gold.

"You'll have to get through us to get to her!" said the big one who had carried me over from Luffy's ship to theirs. Luffy looked over some of them and smiled larger-if that's even possible- and stuck his arm out. Now I'm no anatomy whiz, but I'm almost positive that arms aren't suppose to stretch like that.

His arm reached out, wrapped around me like eight times, and then snapped back to him, putting me right next to him and standing on the railing too. My face matched the surprised looks of the other pirate crew as I looked at Luffy. He was grinning like any idiot and then wrapped his arm around me again, spun around like the Tasmanian Devil, then unwound and shoot us both in to the sky.

I screamed, clutching onto Luffy'vest as I looked down. The 'pirate' ship was slowly becoming a dot in the ocean- Going Merry too- as we were heading up further. "What ARE you!?" I shrieked.

Luffy turned his head towards me and grabed the side of his face. "I'm a rubber man. And I'm gonna be king of the pirates."

"What the heck!? A rubber man?" I asked. Slowly we were falling, and gaining speed, but Luffy didn't even pay it any attention. He was looking at me, probably waiting for my reaction to all this. I just stared back at him till my mind screamed, "WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!"

"Uh, Luffy do something!" I wrapped my arms around Luffy and waited for him to do something. He stretched out his arms and reached towards Going Merry. We were skimming across the top of the water, almost like skiing, and Luffy was laughing the whole time

Meanwhile a though finally hit me. _'Pirates, ships, king of the pirates, devil fruits, they only have one thing in common. They all happened in the great age of pirates.'_

My feet were flying behind me as I held on tight around Luffy, all the while he's cracking up laughing. I looked up at him. There was something that seemed really familiar about him. His smile, I've definatly seen it somewhere. And the only thing that I can remember it from was a super old wanted poster for Monkey D. Luffy.

Uh,oh.

* * *

_Hey guys! Sorry for the slow update! I was going to update last week but- how do I put it nicely?- I'm super lazy! And this weekend I had friends over for a end of the school year party and one of my friends got drunk……. Yeah definaly not good. We had to sneak two blocks over to get some stuff that was suppose to help sober her up….. And when we got there in the yard next door were like nine of our worst enemies getting high. _

_So yeah, I've had better parties. _

_And in the last post I meant go to _

_Anyways I want to say thanks to the reviewers:_

**kittycat5261**

**PiratesLife4Me02**

**Thomas Dorvin**

**Thomas Drovin (for reviewing twice)**

**SakuraDagger15**

_And_

**reviewqueen**

Thanks you all! Read and Review!


	4. Chapter 4

"Luffy! How could you go over there and not get my treasure back?!" Nami shouted. She had been so mad when we finally landed and she didn't get her treasure back. "Sorry Nami." Luffy whimpered again. Nami punched him in the face making him back up a bit.

I kept staring out at the ocean, my mind full with unanswered questions_. How did I get here? Why me? What happened to Alphonse? Zane? David, Shay, Sammy, Tommy, Nick, Grace? Did they get pulled into this mess too? And if so where are they?_

I sighed and sagged over the railing. "Careful, you might fall in." Robin said coming up from behind me. "Ha, funny. I thought it was you who couldn't swim." I replied tartly. If Robin noticed the hatefulness in my words, she didn't act like it.

"Yes, true. We can't swim. But we have gained powers in return." Robin said. I rolled my eyes and turned to face her. "Yeah. You get powers I remember that much. You can sprout body parts practically every where. Chopper has the ability to talk thanks to his fruit. Plus he can have two other transforms, too. And Luffy he can streatch his body like rubber. And now that I think about it, guns won't work on him. So yes I know about the 'powers' you guys have."

Robin looked up at me with surprised eyes and then smiled. "So you have heard about us? No big surprise there though. We are wanted after all."

"No where I'm from." I muttered. "What?" she asked. "Uh, nothing. It's…. it's just…. Oh never mind, you wouldn't understand." I told her.

Robin started to say something when Usopp shouted, "Island! Finally we've hit land. Time to get Taylor back home." Uh oh. That's is _not _repeate _not _good. I haven't even told them that I'm not even from this time period.

"Aw! Does Taylor have to go?" Luffy asked. At the moment, Nami had a hold of the front of his vest and was shaking him back in froth. "Luffy, she probably has a family and friends who are worried about her." Zoro said.

"Yeah, like her brother and her friend." Chopper said. He smiled at me and then said, "I bet that they'll be really happy to know that you're safe!"

I smiled down to him and patted him on his head a whispered, "Yeah. I be that they would be." Robin raised an eyebrow at my comment but thankfuly didn't say anything. "Taylor!" Luffy shouted, wrapping his arm around around me. "Do they have any forests to explore? How about caves? I like caves and forests, don't you? They are the best places to have adventures. Besides oceans that is." Luffy went on and on while I looked at the island in front of us.

Imagine my surprise when I acutally recognized the place. None of the buildings looked the same- probably because they're not- as the ones from my time, but the land marks were identical. There was Winged Mountain. A mountain that looked like at the top had a beautiful pair of white wings whenever it snows. The mountain always cut the winds and snow perfectly to form them. I shook my head. NO way could we be the same ones from my time.

"Well Taylor?" Luffy asked tugging at me. "Uh, sorry, what?" I asked dumbfounded. "I asked if you could show us where you live. You know to make sure you got home safe." he said.

"Home?"

I instantly thought of my home. No way could I bring them there. Some major pirate is suppose to live there. Or at least soon he will if he isn't already. "You guys I have something to say-" I started but it was too late.

Luffy had already jerked me off the ship, much to my dismay. "Hey Luffy! Get back here!" Nam shouted after her. Luffy didn't even pause to at all of her screaming. He kept charging through the town like it was his job. I couldn't keep up in Nami's high heels- heck I doubt I could keep up any other pair of shoes anyways.

He soon noticed my dragging speed and tossed me on to his back. He spun around a corner and ran smack dab into some one. He barely even slowed down as he charged on through. "Sorry!" I shouted over my shoulder. The old man was shaking the 'granny' fist at us.

"Luffy maybe we ought to stop!" I shouted as he doudged several other people. "Or at least slow down!" Coming up right in front of us was some people who were moving a huge mirror.

Quickly stuck my fingers in his mouth and stretched his cheeks (FACE mind you!) back as far as I could with out falling off. He reacted like a hourse when you pull on the reins. Even though he didn't fully stop, probably because he was going too fast to, he did at least turn into an ally and run the rest of his momentum off.

"Ow, Taylor. You hurt my face." he told me. I sighed with relief as I slide off his back and onto the stone ally way. "Better than seven years bad luck ain't it?" I asked teasingly.

He grinned at me and sreached out his head to me. "What?" I asked looking at it. "Have you ever seen your town from the sky?"

* * *

"Stupid Luffy! Charging off with Taylor. Doesn't he know how much trouble he could get her into just be being seen with her?" Nami asked to no one in particular. "It's just who he is Nami." Usopp said. "Besides I bet we'll find them soon."

"Can we make it a game? Who ever sees them first wins?" Chopper asked. Nami kept on walking and mumbled "Sure."

"Then we win." Robin said, including Chopper in the 'we'. The rest of them (excluding Zoro and Sanji, Sanji stayed on the ship and Zoro got lost.) turned to see Luffy and Taylor flying through the air.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!! Some one help!" they could hear Taylor shout. Luffy meanwhile, was laughing he head off. "Well if no one noticed them before they sure will now!" Nami said tartly.

Usopp sighed. "Let's go get them."

* * *

"Ahhhhhhh!!!! Some one help!" I screamed. Here I was flying through the air with a pirate! A pirate of all people. The towns folk looked up as our shadows fell over them. Even though I was scared out of my wits, I couldn't help but notice how pretty the town looked. What I wouldn't give for our town to look like this.

Then again this is only part of my- um- future town. The rest is still under water.

"Hey Luffy! Look over there!" I said pointing over to the some of the Straw Hats. "Uh oh. Nami looks really mad." he said. He stretched out his arm to reach over to the closest building and ended up grabbing a bird.

"Opps!" he said as we were jerked upwards. The force of the tug upwards was too much that I couldn't keep my arms around him and I let go.

"Luffy!" I shrieked at him. He let go of the bird and spun around so that he was facing towards me. This was scarier then the first time he and I were thrown up into the air. This time I had nothing to hold on to as I fell. Luffy's arm was suddenly in my face. I clung to it like my life depended on it, and in this case, it did.

Luffy snapped his arm back to him, but instead of it briging me back up to him, it brought him down to me. I latched on to his stomach so that I was eye to eye with him. He glimpsed down to the ground, which was rushing up super fast. He practically rolled over in the air so that he would be the first to hit the ground. He bit his thumb and blew into it. Suddenly his stomach started to blow up like a balloon.

But it didn't have time to fill up very much because almost as soon as he started to blow it up, we hit the ground. With the force at which we had been falling, I knocked all the air out of Luffy. Not to mention I bounced several feet away.

"Luffy! Taylor! Are you guys okay?" I could here some one asking. I sat up and shook my head, trying to clear my vision. Luffy, who was just now getting his breathe back, sat up and looked around like crazy. "Whoa. That sure was a surpirse." I said sarcastically. Luffy spun around and ran over to where I was.

"Sorry Taylor! I'm really sorry!" he blubbered. Funny, this isn't what I remember him like before. Everything I read about him said he was goofy and carefree. Which he still is, but I didn't take him to be the type to say sorry.

"It's okay Luffy. Really it is. See? I'm fine." I told him. He had super wide eyes as I told him that I was fine. Even though my arm was hurting I wasn't going to tell him that. "Are you guys okay?" Chopper asked. Looking behind Luffy there was Nami, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper standing there with looks crossed between annoyed and concerned.

"Yeah, we're fine." I said as I stood up. Pain was vibrating through my leg and I knew that later it was really going to hurt.

"Wow. I think that that's the first time I've ever been an acrobat over a town before." I said jokingly, hoping to get Luffy's concered face out of my mind.

"Luffy, do you even know how much trouble you could get her into if people recognized you? Remember? She lives here? You're a pirate? Marines will come? Any of this getting though to you?" Nami asked Luffy.

"Uh well about that." I spoke up. They all looked over to me, waiting for me to countinue. " I really…. Don't live here." I finished quietly. "You WHAT?" Nami asked angrily.

"Do you have hearing problems? I said I don't live here." I said, starting to get angry too. "Then wait. Where do you live?" Usopp asked me. Luffy looked over to me, waiting for an anwser.

"Uh…. Um… well you see…." I trailed off. I knew that this part was coming but I still didn't know what to do. "See, the truth is. I don't live here." I said slowly and quietly. For a moment no one said anything. I was beginning to think that they were just waiting for a chance to attck me. _'The calm before the storm,'_ I thought.

"What, do you mean that you don't live here?" Usopp asked. I looked up to the pirates, expecting them to look really angry, but all of them either had a calm face or a confused one. "Well, I said what I meant. I don't live here. Well at least not from this time." I finished the last part almost silently.

"I knew it was too strange." Robin said. Everyone turned their attention towards her as she put a hand out towards me, which was closed so that we couldn't see what was in there.

"You had this in your pocket when Nami and I dried your clothes." she said and opened it up. Inside was a picture. Not just any picture though. I was a picture of my brother, Zane, David, Sammy, Tommy, Shay, Nick, and I at the beach. The picture had been taken last year, which was clearly written on the back in my sloppy hand writing. It read, "Me and My besties and the beach. Year: 2008."

I, before falling into this mess, was going to put that photo in the album that I had been working on before my friends showed up for the party. Cleaning your room really does help find things sometimes.

"At first I didn't understand what it meant. But then you said that you, 'remembered that much.' You knew just a bit too much about us." Robin said, handing over my photo.

"Well if you're from the future, then how did you get here?" Usopp asked.

Great. This was going to be a very long story.

* * *

Hey guys! Since it's summer I will probably update sooner. And I have so many ideas planed out for Luffy and Taylor. Soooo much fluff to come! And maybe something serious too? Dun,Dun, DUN. Haha. But seriously I do have a lot of ideas planned out for them.

Thanks to the reviewers:

_**Thomas Drovin for his third review! Thanks you very much!**_

_**neoqueen24 for their kind review!**_

_**review queen for the second review for her! Thanks very much even if I can't thank you properly because idk who you are!**_

**_SakuraDagger15 for the second review from them! And yes…. I'm sad about Quizilla too. And hopefully you post the Twilight Story! I would LOVE to read it_**!

And

_**LuffyXRuby good to see you're back! I appreiciate the review!**_

_Read, Enjoy, Review._


	5. Chapter 5

To save time I'll just go ahead and skip past all the explanation. Truth be told after a while of the Straw Hats asking me questions, I zoned out and awnsered them on auto-pilot.

"Cool! That makes Taylor a Time Traveler! Time traveling Taylor!" Luffy shouted. He was sitting next to me in the galley, so he shouted in my ear. I flinched back from him loud noise and dodged his waving fists as I laughed. Not exactly my first choice of nicknames but it's better than what my brother calls me.

"So… you mean to tell us that you were just sent back in time and you have no clue why?" Zoro asked. Oh, yes, like that question hasn't been asked before. Sighing I put my head in my hands and laid them on the table.

"Taylor! Would you like something to drink?" Sanji asked me. I shook my head no and he went off and asked Robin and Nami what they would like. By now, after my rambling explanation, we were back at the ship and we were all seated around the dinning table.

Nami shook her head and leaned backwards in her chair. "I just can't believe it. Everything was acutally normal for once." She leaned forward, sitting in a postion similar to mine. "And then we had to go and meet a time traveler."

I bounced my head on my arms a few times to show that I agreed. "You can't believe it? I'm the one who went back in time. And you know what's worse? I don't even really remember why I wanted so badly to go find this treasure."

Robin put her book down that she had been reading. "Who was the owner- or shall I say- former owner, of the treasure?"

"I don't know. I just know that my brother and all of my best friends went to find it. But it didn't turn out too well, as you can tell." I said as I lifted my head off my arms.

She nodded her head and opened her book again, and she began to read. "Well, since the Log Pose will set in a few hours I suppose we ought to go back over there so we can get some supplies. And Luffy, no joking around this time." Nami said in a serious tone.

Luffy only seemed to laugh at her, which made her angrier than she had been before. She looked like she was going to punch him, but she only sighed and said, "Fine then. You two can stay and guard the ship."

"What!?" Luffy exploded. He seemed almost devastated that he couldn't go back to the island. "That's right. You two will stay here and watch the ship, while the rest of us will go get supplies." Nami said. "Come on, Robin." she motioned for her to come over so they could go.

"No thank you Nami. I really would like to finish this book." she said and went back to reading. Sanji seemed disappointed that neither Robin, nor I was going, but he quickly brightened when Nami called for him to come with her to help with shopping.

After they were all gone Luffy, Robin, and myself sat in silence. Although silence didn't last very long. "Urgh! I'm so bored!" Luffy whined. I had to agree though. I really wanted to see what the rest of the island looked like. I wonder if there's anything else similar to my time besides the mountains.

"I don't care what Nami said! I'm going exploring!" Luffy said as he stood up and walked towards the door. "Wait, Luffy!" I cried after him. He was going to get us in trouble with Nami. "What Taylor? Don't you want to see what your island looks like? I mean like now in our time?" Luffy asked, but he did stop halfway through the door.

"Uh, well of course I do. But Nami said-" I was cut off by Robin. "Don't worry, Taylor. Nami won't even know. If you get back in time." she said.

"Awesome! Thanks Robin!" Luffy said before racing out of the door and hopping off the ship onto land. I looked over to Robin and she was looking up at me with a smile and said, "He's getting pretty far ahead of you. You might want to go catch him before he does something reckless."

My face lit up with recignition before chasing off after him. "Wait up Luffy! Man! How can you run so fast?"

* * *

By the time I caught up to Luffy, he was already on the outskirts of my town. I called out and he turned around still smiling. "So you decided to come?" He asked as I ran the rest of the distance between us. I nodded my head as I tried to catch my breath. "So what type of exploring are you hoping to get done before we need to get back?" I asked still out of breath.

Luffy cocked his head sideways as if to think, which shocked me because I wasn't aware he though at all, and then stated, "The type that leads to advenure." Pretty broad response there, but what could I do? He started to walk away again so I followed.

I looked around and saw that we were heading into the forest, on the exact opposite side of town that Nami and the others were on.

As we walked through the trees of the forest our ears were assaulted by all the different types of animals in the forest. I don't remember that many in the future forest, but then again, things change. "Whoa cool!" Luffy said pointing to a bug with really long antennas. The bug looked over to us and shook its head at us in a threatening manner. Too bad it wasn't very scary being only two inches big.

Luffy grabbed it off of the tree and held it out to me. "Look at it Taylor! Isn't it awesome?" he asked shoving it near my face. I backed off uncomfortably and placed my hands in front of my face. "Uh, sure. I guess it is." I said still backing up as Luffy came closer with the bug.

I guess Luffy realized that I didn't like having a bug shoved in my face because he backed off and put it back on the tree. He grabbed my arm and pulled me forward saying something about finding a great adventure. I just shook my head and gave into his tugging. He pulled us deeper and deeper into the forest until I couldn't see the town anymore.

"Luffy, maybe we should head back. We need to get back before Nami and the others so we don't get in trouble. Besides you're brining us further into the forest so now I can't see the town anymore." I said trying to convince him to go back. He looked over his shoulder and smirked, a look that I know is going to get us in trouble.

"Why? Scared of the adventure?" he asked teasingly. I jerked my arm out of his hands making him turn around to look at me. I know my face was red because I could feel the heat off of my face. "What did you just ask me?" I asked stingily. He looked at my red face and decided not to repeat his words. Which was probably the safest thing I've seen him do since I got here.

"You did not just call me scared." I told him. He shrugged his shoulders and started to walk back towards the ship. "Oh, no you don't." I said grabbing him by the ear. "I thought you wanted an adventure? Well come on lets go have some adventure." I said, pulling him by his ear deeper into the forest.

* * *

Meanwhile Nami and Sanji were in a clothing store looking at clothes. Well, Nami was and Sanji was going on and on about how beautiful Nami was in what ever she wore. Nami sighed as she took more clothes off of a rack and headed towards the dressing room. "What is it Nami?" Sanji asked. Nami turned around and said, "We should've brought Taylor. She needs clothes if she is going to stay with us anyways." Sanji thought more a moment before saying. "We could go back and get her."

Nami sighed again and put the clothes she had tried on, and was going to try on, back on the rack and agreed that they should go and get her to get some clothes. "But she is definatly going to own me big time for spending money on her." Nami said as they walked towards the ship.

* * *

Sorry for the slow update but we're going to Brason tomorrow! Yay! But I am NOT a happy camper. I can't ride any of the water rides or go swimming (girls know why) and it sucks. Plus we're going with some people that I don't even know and their boy is a year older than me and their daughter is three years younger than me. It isn't going to be a good vacation. Anyways sorry for the short update but I had to get something done before Branson.

Brason rules!

Now time for reviewers!

**Emily the evil one** : love your name. Reminds me of my friend Emily who moved up to Canada.

**review queen** : Gosh you really like to review! I really should thank you more. And yes once again I thank you!

**Thomas Drovin** : Thank you for reviewing! You are a faithful reader and for that I hand you a cookie! *hands to you*

**LuffyxRuby** : Yeah I know how it's hard to review. Sometimes I can't review peoples stories either because my computer is insane! Just like me! Lol.

**neoqueen24** :Wow! *blushes badly* you are so nice guess what! I'm going to ask my best friends to all read your story!

That's all for reviewers. Now if you guys really want a good story read **_The Captain's Keeper_** by **_neoqueen24_** and don't foget to review the story too!

Thank you all for listening to my rambling. Please enjoy and your day review.


	6. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**Hey guys!**

**No this isn't Sienna, the author of X doesn't Always Mark the Spot but I am her cousin. So why am I updating instead of her? Well she's been in an accident. Nothing major but she did break her wrist and she is NOT very happy. She's been trying to type up this chapter but she just can't with a broken wrist, so she only has a little bit done.**

**By the way, my name is Molly and PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, but she kinda got hurt because of me. We were out camping after her getting back from Branson and me and her were climbing trees in the forest. I bet her that she couldn't climb a certain tree, which she said she could, and I told her if she could climb the tree that I would personally buy every One Piece manga that she wanted (which are expensive) and all the DVDS. She climbed all the way to the very top of the tree and looked down. I guess she forgot but she's terrified of heights.**

**When she tried to climb back down she fell out of the tree (IDK how high but it was really high!) and landed on her wrist. The doctor says she's lucky she didn't break her whole arm.**

**Then lately me and her have been sitting outside in her drive way and her mom is getting mad at us because it could be three in the morning and we're outside just sitting there talking, sometimes with our friend Chelsea (she's kind bi so sometimes it's really weird), and she says that we've been walking up and down the street when we're not. She's says we're rapes waiting to happen.**

**So not only is her ego hurt because she can't type, her pride is hurt cause Aunt August is now not letting us out of the house after ten o' clock at night….. Which is normally when we wake up!!!**

**But our jacked up adventures aside Sienna is sitting here with me as I type this and she says she's sooooooooooooo suuuuuuuuupa sorry about the slow update but she couldn't get me in here quick enough to type up some more. So basically this is just a preview of the up coming chapter and mainly an author's note.**

**Sienna….. I'm suuuuuuuuuuuupa sorry guys!!!!!!!!!**

* * *

We walked on quietly for awhile until the silence either drove him insane (which wouldn't be a far drive) or he was bored. I think it maybe a combination of the two.

"Taylor? How much further?" he asked me. "Luffy, you sound like a child. I have no clue how much further. In fact I have no clue where we're going." I told him.

Luffy let out a sound that I think was a sigh, but I wasn't sure. "Taylor?" he said. I ignored him for the most part. I just nodded my head which seemed to be enough for him to continue. "You said you had friends on the other side right?" When I nodded again he went on, "What are they like?"

I turned around now, stopping as he finally caught up. I didn't have to think about what my friends were like. I've been with them since I was three-years-old and they've never let me down. We've done some stupid things, sneaking out at like three in the morning, getting caught by the cops for sneaking out, being a smart aleck to the cop and telling him we were homeless just so he wouldn't take me home and get me caught by my dad.

And even after all those stupid things- and I can tell you, the list can be longer- they were still my best friends, and wouldn't ever rat me out. But how do you say all those things in words? That's the hardest part. You can't.

I glanced at Luffy who was still waiting for my answer, and I realized his friends were like that too. He has been falling off the ship all day and yet his friends - had I not been there- would've been there in a second to get him out of the water.

Sure they had they're problems, just like my friends have their's. Nami, was money hungry, but loyal. Sanji was girl-crazy, but loyal. Zoro, was always sleeping, but non-the-less loyal. Usopp was a huge liar, but loyal. Chopper gullible but loyal. Robin likes to keep to herself but I know she's loyal. If she wasn't why the heck would she have let us sneak out?

Oh, crap. I glanced around and for the first time remember where I was. In a forest, hundreds (if not more) of years away from my home, with a pirate.

A pirate.

I had always had a fascination for pirates but here I was with one. With another angry pirate on the way. Luffy's question was instantly forgotten when I remembered Nami. She was going to really angry if she came back and we weren't there.

After I caught up with Luffy he said that Nami probably wouldn't be back forever because she was going shopping, but that didn't make me feel any better.

* * *

**Another Author's note!!!! All the things listed in here as things that Taylor and her friends have done, is what we've done lately. Pretty exciting no? The point is is that we eventually told the cops where we lived (we lied and said Chelsea's house! XD!) and he took us there and then we all got in a huge fight up the street because they were making fun of Chelsea because of the fact that she is bi.**

**BTW Me and Sienna are COMPLETELY straight. We've been friends with Chelsea waaaaay before we knew she was bi and will always be her friend! We love ya just like our own sister Chelsea! Consider yourself an honorary cousin/sister!!!!**


	7. Chapter 7

Quickly I ran back the way Luffy and I had came from. He was running along behind me telling me Nami wouldn't be back until later. Still, I had seen her mad at Luffy and I knew for a fact that I didn't want her mad at me. She was scary enough mad at him.

"Taylor! Wait!" he said. Funny, wasn't he the one pulling me earlier? Maybe being scared out of my mind made me run faster than usual.

"Are you sure this is the way we came from?" he called. I turned my head slightly to look over my shoulder at him. "No! I'm not." I said and shoved through some bushes. I skidded to a halt seeing several men sitting around a camp fire.

Thankfully they hadn't seen me. I swiftly dove behind a box and sat down. Luffy burst out of the bushes just the same as I had. Quickly I grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to me. "Shh!" I squeaked at him.

"Why? I could easily beat these wimps." Luffy told me confidently. "Ever heard of being over confident?" I asked him in a hushed tone.

"Nope."

"Of course not."

I peaked around the corner of the box and saw that there was about eight guys sitting by a fire enjoying what I'm guessing is their dinner. Even though I haven't seen much of Luffy's power or remember much of it, I _know_ he could pound these guys no problem. Heck, I think that I could even take on a couple of them.

"They're probably here for Winged Mountain." I whispered. Luffy gave me a confused look before turning and looking towards the mountain.

"What's so special about it? Why would they come for a mountain?" He asked while picking at the ground.

"There's a story behind the mountain. It's said that sometime during the great age of pirates, it had powers. Powers to make people fall in love. And trust me, those guys need all the help they can get." I said motioning to them. Believe me, they are exactly the most attractive guys you're ever seen.

Luffy looked even more lost now. "How can a mountain make people fall in love?"

I turned towards him and thought about it. The legend was as old as pirates are plenty in the age of pirates. "Here, I'll tell you the story." I said as I scooted closer so I wouldn't have to talk very loud. Luffy settled down, ready for a good story. "This is one of my favorites that my mother used to tell me when I was little." ….....

* * *

_There once was a princess. She was as beautiful as the sun is bright. She had flowing black hair, clear, striking blue eyes, and gorgeous skin. The problem was that she hated the sun. Every time she went out __into it she got horrible migraines and would feel like a Devil Fruit user in the water. One day a poor sailor boy stopped by her palace. He wasn't much to most people, scruffy hair, torn clothes, constantly getting into trouble and smeared with dirt, but to the princess he was perfect. He requested money for a ship, and to meet the princess. _

_Of course the king and queen denied him both. They both knew that he would become a pirate with his ship, and thought that he would sell their daughter to some perverted old man. _

_But the Princess knew him better. She had watched him slave for the ships that came into port at night. She begged her parents to let her meet him. Neither the King nor the Queen would grant her wish. _

_And with the sun giving her migraines all the time, she couldn't risk going outside to meet him herself. She remembered her strange aunt who would occasionally come to the palace. She also remembered that her aunt had always brought "magic" potions with her. _

_One day she asked her aunt to give her one of the potions to help her with the sun problem. Her aunt gave her one, but warned her of it's side effects. The princess stated that she didn't care about the side effects, and took the potion. _

_Later that day she walked out into the sun. She felt no pain from it, nor did she see the boy. She searched everywhere for him until she saw him on the mountain top. She crawled all the way to the top of the mountain to meet him. _

_When she reached the top of the steep mountain the boy turned around. His eyes didn't shine with the same curiosity that they had. Instead they were blank and expressionless. She gasped at him. _

_What had happened to her charming sailor? He was suppose to be full of adventure. That's one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him. She faintly remembered her strange aunt's warning about the side effects the potion could have. _

_Two days later when the potion wore off she saw the sailor boy. He was laughing and smiling just like always. She cursed her aunt for not telling her that she wouldn't be with the 'same' boy that she had fallen in love with. _

_Her aunt laughed. "My dear, you think love is easy?" she had said. "It's hard work. Be thankful that the boy even went back to normal." _

_Enraged she ran out of the room and to the front door. The sun had always felt so good on her skin, yet it always made her sick when she was in it. She stood in front of the door with her hands on the knob, ready to turn it and walk out into the sun to meet her love, regardless of the consequences. _

_Suddenly the door flew open and the boy stood there. The sunset poured onto the girl, and she winced out of habit. But there wasn't any pain. _

"_Are you okay?" the boy asked. She smiled at him and looked up to the mountain. The winds bent the clouds into angel wings in the darkening sky and she said, "I am now." And kissed him. _

_Years later the two got married. _

_On their wedding day they got married on top of the mountain. The Princess apologized to her aunt for not believing she would help her. _

_And the queen felt bad for not believing the boy was true intentioned so she asked her sister- the aunt- for a favor. _

"_I would like to make this mountain stand apart from every other mountain." she had told her. _

"_How so?" she asked. _

"_I want to make people fall in love from it. Just like my daughter and the sailor." she told her proudly. _

_The aunt nodded. She conjured up a magic spell that would make people fall in love. The catch was that the two had to have at least some feelings for each other, they had to be on the mountain or be able to see the wings, and they had to kiss in the moonlight or right when the sun came up.

* * *

_

"After that plenty of people have fallen in love on that mountain." I finished. " I'm almost positive there are parts I left out, but that's because it's been forever since I've heard it. In fact, most people where I'm from, have forgotten it."

Luffy was surprisingly quite through out the story. "So have you?"

I turned back away from the fire the men had set up. "Have I what?" I asked.

Luffy turned towards me. "Have you ever fallen in love on the mountain?" His voice was neutral yet he sounded a lot more interested than he let on.

"Nope. Never have." I said and stood up and popped my back. The men around the camp fire were now joined by eight women, one for each of them. "But it seems like those guys are gonna try."

I slowly walked away from the site so that I wouldn't be too loud. Luffy was walking right behind me. "But, why haven't you? You've lived here your whole life right?" he asked me.

"Sure I have. But that doesn't mean that I think that I had found my true love." I said. "But, who knows? Maybe I was looking in the wrong era."

* * *

Hello guys! I know I haven't updated in a really long time and I'm sorry! But guess what. I normally use my friend Sam's (yes that's where I got the name Sammy from) computer, and I had like thirty chapter's of this story on there and it crashed. Every thing on there is just gone. Her pictures, stories, and music, everything! She used to use a windows and it even erased windows. She now has to use Linux (I think that's how you spell it) and it's confusing to us. So sorry but I can't even really remember what all I had written, but I'll do my best.

**About the Princess story in there, I just made that up (duh Sienna it shows!) and it was better but I can't remember all what I had wrote. Sorry, if do i'll edit it later.**

Time for reviewers!

Thanks to:

_**Thomas Drovin (Whoo!)**_

_**neoqueen24**_

_**Emily the evil one**_

_**Silveromance**_

_**LotusBlossomz2061**_

_**lilypop8**_

_**Songs Of The Wind**_

_**lilypop8**_

_**Silveromance**_

_**neoqueen24**_

_**Holy Star**_

Thanks you guys! Don't forget to review!


	8. Capter 8

Slowly we made our way back to the ship. I still was afraid that Nami might get mad at us, but I just didn't really couldn't run in these heels anymore. Besides, Luffy wasn't helping any. He was walking even slower than I was.

Oh well, he didn't seem like the kind to be punctual. Bit by bit the forest wore away and the sea started to come back into view. Robin was sitting out on the deck reading while someone was stomping around angrily.

"Looks like we're too late." I said to Luffy. He nodded, seeing Nami over my head. "Do you think she's really that mad?" He asked me.

Nami suddenly looked up, almost like she could hear us (which the girl would have to have awesome hearing to do!) and started to wave her fist at us. "Yeah, Luffy, I do."

Now, even slower than before, both Luffy and I walked over to the ship. He shot one hand up to the railing and the other around me, and pulled us aboard.

"Do you not know what, 'stay here' means?" She asked us. Luffy stepped behind me and I shrank back. "I even came back here to get you," she pointed at me, " so that way we could go shopping. You're going to need clothes if you're going to stay with us."

I stood there shocked. Every thing I had ever read about her said that she adored money, and definitely didn't give it away. "How much would I have to pay you back?" I questioned.

She gave me a smirk. "I see you're a smart girl. Normally for clothes it would be 250% interest. But since you and Luffy had to go have an 'adventure' you'll own me 350% interest."

I glanced at Robin and she shrugged at me. Great, she encourages me to go, then sets me up. Maybe there's a teamwork between the two.

Nami sighed at me. "And here I thought that this ship would be more easy to control with three girls on board." She looked at me, dirt stuck to me from where I had constantly tripped in her shoes, and leaves in my hair -which was sticking up in odd directions. "My mistake." she said before turning around.

"Here, go take a quick shower, then come see me." she said as she showed me the way. Suddenly a few hands popped up out of seemingly nowhere and handed me a couple of towels and fresh clothes.

I turned around and saw Robin smiling a sad smile, as if to say she was sorry I got caught. "When you are finished, wipe down the bath, okay? Can't have the ship getting soggy can we?" She joked before handing me a wiper and walking away.

"Thanks Robin!" I called after her. I shut the bathroom door before taking a quick shower. After I was finished I wiped down the shower fairly well if I do say so myself, and walked back outside.

Everyone else was lounging around doing his or her own thing. Usopp was making some hot pepper stuff (I know because I could smell it all the way over here), Chopper was reading and writing notes in a medical book, Nami was editing a map, Robin was reading- of course, Sanji was perfecting a 'special' dish, and Zoro was sleeping. And then there was Luffy.

He was running around from person to person trying to get them to play. Upon my arrival he bounded over to me and asked me to play with him. Nami, having heard me come out, was walking over to me grinning. "Now Taylor," she said to me, "We're going to go shopping. Just the two of us. And you're going to need to listen to me, understand?" she asked me. She had that fake, sickly sweet voice. All I managed to do was nod.

"Good. Now Luffy," she said turning to him. "Are you going to stay here with these guys?" she asked him. She might have asked him but it sounded to me like "you better stay here or I'll hunt you down."

Luffy only grunted in return.

* * *

Later on Nami and I were in a clothing store looking through a rack of clothes. "Now," she said holding up a pair of pants that I shook my head at, " you're going to need clothes for all sorts of weather."

"Because it's unpredictable on the Grand Line?" I asked. Nami grinned. "So you do learn." she said.

I snorted. "Well yeah. The Grand Line used to be- I mean is- the most dangerous waters you could ever sail on. I might not remember much about where I'm from, but I do remember that."

In the end I had tried on over what felt like a thousand clothes. The sad part is that we only bought half of what we tried on. Nami bought mainly shorts and tank tops, several pairs of warmer clothes and several different types of swim suits.

My wardrobe mainly consisted of ripped jeans and t-shirts, several warmer clothes, and two swim suits that I probably wouldn't even wear. Oh, and a flat bill cap.

After Nami paid for the clothes we went to the shop next door to eat.

"So, you liking this era so far?" Nami asked me. She sounded truly curious. I swallowed some of the chocolate desert we were eating. "Yeah, it's definitely interesting. I always dreamed of the great age of pirates. I just never thought I'd get to see it. You know, for myself?" I told her.

She nodded her head and paid for the dinner. We made our way slowly back to the ship. "So you used to live here?"

"Yep! See that big mansion up there? Well that's were I lived." I said fondly. I really was missing the great view of the town you could see from there. Even if the sights weren't the same.

"Whoa, up there? That place is huge! What are you rich!?" she asked me amazed. I giggled at her which seemed to make her slightly mad. "Trust me, I'm not rich. In fact before I was sent here, my dad was having to sell some very valuable stuff from this age."

I stared up at the mansion sadly. I had lived in it all my life and everything in it was important to me.

Nami watched me for second before smiling. "See, if you're always this calm, we might get along just fine." she said and her smile got bigger, "that, and if you can tell me where this treasure is."

I looked away from the mansion and over at Nami. She was pulling a folded piece of paper out of her bra (paper cuts much?) and handing it to me. I warily took it from her and unfolded it. I recognized the paper as that dang treasure map that got me into all this mess.

"Whoa! How did you get that?" I asked her. Nami smirked at my reaction. " It was in your back pants pocket. Duh!"

I shook my head. "No it wasn't. Nick.... had... it. Oh crap." I said. Nami stopped walking and turned back to look at me. "What's wrong, Taylor? Did you forget something at the shop?"

Before I even gave her chance to say anything I took off running. And when I say running, I mean I _flew _over, under, and around anything in my way.

In front of me, the Going Merry was growing larger. I didn't even pause to step on the bottom rung of the ladder hanging over the edge of the ship, I just flew to about the middle of it and kept right on going.

Sanji, who was handing Robin some type of drink, looked up at me when my feet hit the surface of the deck rather loudly. He smiled and started to say something but I cut him off. "N-n-nick." I puffed out.

Sanji gave me a weird look before turning to Robin, who was still sitting in her chair. "What's wrong Taylor? Were you and Nami attacked?" Usopp asked from behind me. I swung around and grabbed a hold of his overalls and pulled him down to my eye level. "Nick!" I shouted.

Usopp gave me a look like I was insane all while he was trying to get out of my hold. "Was there anyone else in the water with me?"

"No. Not besides you and Luffy." Zoro said from somewhere to the side of me. "Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure!?" I screamed at him. I knew I shouldn't scream at Zoro, none of this was his fault. But I just couldn't quite screaming.

"What are you, crazy? I'm positive that there was no one anywhere near you and Luffy when I hauled you two out of the water." he said low and evenly. Any other time that would have scared me, but not now. Not when I was so worried about my friend.

"You're lying" I said and released my hold on Usopp, who scurried away as soon as released, " you-" I was cut off by Luffy.

"Taylor? What happened?" he asked coming up from behind us. "I could hear you all the way in the kitchen."

Sanji looked away from me. "Kitchen? You were in the kitchen? You were sneaking food weren't you you Rubber Idiot?"

"So what if I was? I was starving Sanji!"

"No you weren't. I saw you eat almost five plates of meat earlier!"

"Well that was earlier! This is now!"

"You are a bottom less pit!"

I watched the two of them argue for a second before running up behind Luffy (who had his arms wrapped around Sanji's leg, which was ready to kick him any second) and stuck my fingers in his mouth, sharply yanking it back.

"Will you two **shut up!**" I said. Both Luffy and Sanji stopped their bickering and stared at me.

I took my fingers out of Luffy's mouth and wiped them on the back of his shirt. Once they were clean I brought my hands up to my eyes and covered them. I know I was embarrassing myself by crying in front of these guys, but I couldn't stop.

What if Nick had fallen through somehow? What if he was there and I just left him in the cavern to drown? He was an okay swimmer, but that didn't mean much. What if he was hurt? It would be _all _my fault, and I knew it.

Sanji quickly dropped his leg from Luffy and ran over to me as I sank to my knees. Tears ran down my face and into my mouth and off of my chin. He wrapped his arms around me and 'shhh-ed' me, saying it would be all right.

That only made me want to punch him. How could everything be all right if one of your friends was out there, possibly dead?

Roughly I shoved Sanji off of me and scooted away from him. "Nick...." I muttered. Somewhere in the depth's of my mind I heard Nami crawl over railing and ask what was going on. She had all of the bags that contained all the clothes we had bought and looked royally angry. And she had every right to be.

I faintly felt someone else's hands brushing away my tears but I knew I wouldn't be able to get rid of them like I had Sanji. Robin's arms had sprouted out of the floor wiping my eyes and offering me a tissue. "Y-y-you're about as bad as one of my friends." I muttered.

Luffy kneed down to my level. I felt his eyes staring at me for so long that I had to look up. "Yes, and your problem would be?" I asked sarcastically.

As a reply he sat down next to me. "What's the matter Taylor?" Chopper asked. I opened my eyes and he was only about three feet away from me.

I sighed. "Nami, you know that map you have?" she nodded. "Well my friend Nick had it. Before I appeared here."

Every one slowly let it sink in. "So you think he some how came here?" Usopp asked. I nodded my head. "Nick was the navigator of our little 'adventure.' I don't even know how it got in my back pocket."

"Was Nick anywhere near you when you fell? Maybe he dropped the map and it ended up in your pocket." Robin suggested.

I shook my head. "No, Nick wasn't anywhere near me when I fell. I know because the only people who were were my brother and Zane. The others were looking at other holes." I said. While they gave me a weird look they at least pretended to understand.

"Are you positive that no one else could have given you the map?" Zoro asked tiredly.

"Yes!" I sighed. "So now what? We can't just leave him out there!"

Nami crossed her arms in thought. "That's assuming he's even out there. Maybe some one else picked him up?"

"We can't risk it! We have to go back and look for him!" I said standing back up, knocking Luffy over in the progress.

"We can't go back. There is only forward on the Grand Line." she said. "What do you mean 'only forward?'" I asked.

Nami held her hand up showing me some weird compass. The Log Pose. "It sets in three minutes. There is no _back._" she said it with such a cold face yet her words held sadness in them.

"W-w-well then let's start right now! We might be able to beat it!" I sputtered. Everyone looked away from me, for they already knew the answer. "Fine then! I'll go look for someone who will actually help me!"

I said before running over to the ladder and climbing down.

* * *

I walked through the streets of the city. It was a average sized city, although it had more people living in it then most do. It seemed like the city never slept. There was constant noise, whether it be children laughing, people singing, or someone trying to sell some one something. Overall it was a pretty nice city. Although now I guess it's considered to be a town.

I hummed to myself as I walked through the town, not having a clue where I was going.

* * *

"Ugh! Dang roots!" I said as I pulled my self up. Since there was no way I could go back to the Straw Hats after the way I had blown up at them I had no where to go, so I resigned myself to go to the woods.

"Taylor you are an idiot." I told myself. "You know that there is nothing that they can do and yet you still get mad at them? In fact Zoro could have let you drown and yet you never even thanked him. You are a selfish jerk. To keep it g-rated." I criticized myself. Ever since that one day in seventh grade when I cursed in front of David, causing him to start cursing for the rest of the week, I had vowed not to curse. At least try not to.

The sun was about down and it was starting to get cooler. Nothing I couldn't handle though. Definitely since I would have to, seeing as how the Straw Hats had probably left by now.

"Way to go, Taylor. You go and lose the only people who were probably nice enough to help you." I said.

I looked up at the sky. "I know that I'm a selfish person but could you at least make sure that all my friends are okay?" I asked anybody in the skies who were listening.

Continuing on with my head lowered I walked up the side of one of the hills surrounding the mountain. It, besides my house, always had one of the best views of it. I sat down when I got to where I wanted to be and curled my knees up to my chest.

I sat listing all my bad qualities:

Selfish, a bit of a hothead, stubborn, loves to argue, naive, always unprepared, childish, and too many others. "Man, why didn't you guys just throw me back in the ocean when you had the chance?" I asked out loud. It was then that I realized that I had been talking out loud the whole time.

"We didn't throw you back because I know you are a good person." a voice said behind me. I jumped and turned around and saw Luffy standing there.

"When did you get there!?" I asked him. Had he heard everything I had said?

"I followed you as soon as you left. And you are not selfish." he told me. I snorted. "Oh, yeah I'm a perfectly selfless person to ask you guys-who have done so much for me- to take me somewhere, and then get mad when you say you can't."

Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "Hey just saying. I know if it was my friends in trouble I probably would have done the same thing." He sat down next to me on the slightly damp grass and held something out to me.

"What's this?" I asked him while taking a hold of it. Holding it out in front of me I could see that it was one of the jackets I had bought today with Nami. It was crimson with white wings on the back of it, and black swirling designs on the front.

I blinked at it before looking at Luffy. He had his head turned the other way looking away like he was embarrassed. "How did you-" he cut me off.

"Nami said you might need it if I found you. She said that there's suppose to be a cold front coming through.

I nodded and put on the jacket. My brain finally registered that I had been really cold, colder than most nights on this island. "But what about you? You don't have a jacket." I said to Luffy.

He finally turned so that he was looking at me. "I know. It's not that cold to me." I saw his arm twitch so slightly that at first I thought I had imagined it, until I saw the goosebumps on his arms. "Oh yeah?" I said to him. "Then why are you shivering?"

He blushed and looked away from me again. " 's nothing." he murmured.

I leaned over to him. He looked at me finally and sighed, "Okay! I'm cold! So what?" he asked.

"If you're cold you can have my jacket then." I told him.

"No way. You've been out here a lot longer than I have." he said standing up. I stood up too and took my jacket off. Instantly the hairs on my arms stood on ends at the cold, but I was trying to make a point. "Take the jacket!" I said shoving it against him.

"No." He said and shoved it back at me.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Ye-" before I could continue my sentence I was falling. Right on top of Luffy. He yelped as he fell and hit the damp grass and I yelped as I crashed on top of him. Suddenly I felt something on my lips. I opened my eyes and was staring right into Luffy's eyes.

And our lips were pressed right together. Right as the moon light shone on the mountain.

* * *

Okay you guys I think I'm going to have to stop the chapter right here. I hope you guys have enjoyed the newest chapter! I think it coulda been better, but oh well. I hope you guys will review!!!

**A thousand thanks to these reviewers!!: **

**Sora Tayuya**

**Thomas Drovin**

**Sweet Nightmare's Good byes ( I love the screen name by the way!)**

**Isuik **

**Onitsu Blackfeather**

**AnimeFreak81296**

**Star Hart**

**Xireana (thanks for reviewing twice!)**

**SakuraDagger15**

And that ends the reviewers!

That's for the reviews and I hope that you guys review, it makes me write faster!

_**Happy Holidays!!!!!**_


	9. Chapter 9

I looked straight into Luffy's eyes and they were just as wide as mine were. We stayed like that for several seconds longer before I jumped back and pushed myself several feet away from him.

I sat on the ground gasping as I stared at him. He was still laying on his back-almost like he was too shocked to speak. "Lu-Luffy. S-sorry." I stuttered. My brain wasn't working too swiftly at the moment and that was about all I could say.

With my hand over my mouth I leaned up against a tree- that probably would've been my shelter for the night before Luffy came- and tried to stand up. Which of course failed miserably.

Luffy seemed to come back to life when he sat up and looked at me, his hand over his mouth too. He was looking at me confused and dazed. "What just happened?" he asked.

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, showing that I didn't really know. "Let's just forget it, huh?" I more said than asked as I gained more strength in my legs.

"Look, Taylor! Look, look, look!" Luffy shouted pointing towards the mountains. They were lit up with the light from the moon. 'Oh Sugar, Honey, Iced, Tea!'(1) I thought.

"Isn't it awesome! Did you get to see that every night Taylor?" Luffy asked me excitedly. Seems he got over his shock quick. I didn't think I was _that_ bad at kissing. Then again he is like a little kid. He probably doesn't even know what a kiss stands for between people who are in love. Not that we are or anything, mind you.

When I was able to, I pushed myself away from the tree and walked towards Luffy. He hadn't been acting the same way before we kissed. Er, I mean, _fell. _'Yeah fell on each others lips!' I thought bitterly. But he was acting the same way that he had been on the ship now. What was that other part of the myth? Something about the moon making people act weird. Wait, that's a werewolf story. Oh, well.

"Taylor? Helloooo, Taylor!" Luffy was waving his arms like crazy and jumping side to side trying to get my attention. I snapped my head to look at him, seeing as how I had zoned out, and said, "Huh? Sorry what'd you say?"

"I said lets go!" he said grabbing my wrists and dragging me down the hill. "Wait! Where are we going?" I asked as I tried to get away. My jacket hung from one of my arms, completely forgotten by now.

"Back to the ship of course." he said like it was obvious. "No way! Let me go! They're gonna hate me! Put me down now, Luffy, you hear me! Down!" I screamed as he picked me up and ran faster. The trees were whirring by in blurs of green and brown. I screamed louder as Luffy ducked to avoid hitting a tree branch. "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die." I chanted over and over again.

When we finally reached the edge of the forest Luffy put me down. "What was that about!" I asked him. _'Don't yell at him,' _I told myself. I wasn't exactly yelling but close enough to it.

Luffy made a pouting face. "You walk to slow. And even slower through the forest." he told me. I was very tempted to grab his nose and yank it as far as I would go. Even if it wouldn't hurt him, it would make me feel better.

I sighed. "What makes you think that they'd even want me to come back?" I asked him. It wouldn't make sense if they _would _want me back. I highly doubt that I would.

"Because they understand. They know that you want to help your friend. And believe me if there's anything we can do we'll help." he said. He sounded so... insightful just then. I wonder if he even noticed it. Or did these speeches happen at random times?

Off in the distance I could see the ship. It wasn't that far away but far enough to take _forever_ for me to walk there. We had taken a different way then they way I had went. It was a longer way and through a rougher part of town, but once you got out of the town, there was a fantastic view of the ocean.

"Fine then," I said reluctantly. "I'll go back. But- and take no offense to this Luffy- but if there is ever even a tiny chance that I could save my friend, and you held me back from that, I will..." I thought about saying 'kill you' but I doubt I would ever have the strength to even hurt him. " I will... I'll do something you'll regret." I finished.

If anyone from my time had heard me say that they would've laughed in my face. I'm not exactly strong, but if pushed far enough, I could do some damage to someone. Luffy looked completely serious. "Understood." he said grimly. It shocked me. I didn't even think he was capable of being that serious.

"Fine then," I said. "I guess we're all on the same page?" He nodded his head and turned towards town. The walk had went from light-hearted to dead serious. Thankfully it didn't stay that way for long, because before I knew it he was laughing at some random thing on the street.

"Hurry up, Taylor!" Luffy called. "Sanji is making dinner and it's going to be awesome!"

LXT

Ares pulled his gun up. It'd be simple enough to take the girl out now, and say screw it to the rest of the Straw Hats. But that wasn't what he had been told to do.

"_Take care of the kid, then grab the girl. We can get the rest of the Straw Hats later." _ his boss and said with his rough voice. It sounded like the owners throat was sliced up.

It'd be simple. Shoot the girl now so she won't be an issue in the future. She was already getting too close to the Straw Hats. If he took her out now she couldn't interfere with his plans. Did he say his? He meant his boss's plans.

He lined his gun up with her head.

Click. Safe.

Click. Not safe.

The girl was so stupid. She just sat there. No that wasn't true, she seemed to be talking to herself, too. She was insane, what good would she be to his boss?

He checked his sights again and made sure that the safety was off. He pressed gently on the trigger and was just about to shoot when that stupid, little rubber boy came bounding up to her. Ares wanted to shoot him too, but knew it would do no good. But maybe he could figure a way to get close enough to him to stab him.

He watched as the boy handed the girl her jacket. She put it on gratefully. What was the point of that? It was obvious to his trained eyes that the boy was cold. While he was too far away to hear what they were saying he could tell they were arguing.

The little twerp of a girl stood up and was shoving the jacket back at him. 'What are you too good for a pirate's jacket?' Ares thought. He was tempted to try and take a shot at her right then.

"YE-" whatever the twerp was going to say was cut off by her falling on the rubber nitwit and their lips crashing together. The moon light on the mountain seemed to shine brighter as Ares glanced at it. He watched with mild interest as the twerp's eyes widen and she flew off. The rubber nitwit sat there staring at her blankly.

'Now would be the perfect time to attack,' he thought happily. Unfortunately for him he remembered that he would have to reach back to grab his knife, thus making too much noise. He could use his gun and take the twerp as a hostage, but it was just so much fun to watch her squirm uncomfortably.

That must've been her first kiss. Ares could tell by the way Twerp was looking so embarrassed. She even tried to stand but was failing miserably. Oh, how easy it would be to just walk over there and grab her away from Rubber Nitwit, but what fun would that be? It was a lot funner watching these two hopeless idiots go through an awkward time.

LXT

It was past dinner time by the time we finally got back to the ship. Chopper and Usopp were sitting out on the deck, apparently waiting for them.

As soon as my feet were on deck Chopper tackled me into a hug. His short little arms wrapped around my waist, and his furry face was buried in my jacket. "Do you know how late it is?" Nami asked from somewhere in front of me. She obviously hadn't forgiven me for storming out. And by the murderous glare from Zoro, he hadn't either.

"Taylor!" Sanji called. "I have some lovely food for you to eat. Hey idiot, your's is in there." he said and jabbed his thumb in the direction of the kitchen. Luffy was gone in a heartbeat.

"So, Taylor?" Nami stood in front of me with her arms crossed. She didn't seem very happy, and something tells me it has nothing to do with us being out so late. "Do you still want to come with us?"

I nodded my head so quick I thought it would snap off. She nodded and walked away.

XXX

It was early the next morning when I heard some feet running around on deck. My head was still foggy and I since I wasn't used to sleeping in a hammock I almost fell flat on my face. Glancing up I noticed Robin was sitting in her hammock reading a book as usual. I looked over at Nami's hammock and saw that she wasn't there.

"Nami is up on deck. She's trying to get us going." Robin said noticing my confused look. How she did it with out looking away from her book is a mystery to me. I pried myself off of the floor and headed towards the drawer where my new clothes were stored.

After getting dressed I walked up on deck. Nami was standing there with her hands on her hips, commanding Luffy, Usopp and Sanji to do something with the ropes. Luffy and Usopp grumbled under their breath about how evil she was being, while Sanji happily did the work, willing to please Nami.

Nami must've heard me come up on deck because she turned around and waved. I only nodded in return. The sun seemed so bright coming off the waves it felt like it was blinding me.

Not even an hour later we were off sailing. The waves were perfect according to Nami, but we always had to be prepared on the Grand Line. Nami and Robin were sitting down in lawn chairs on the deck, with a small table in between them. Luffy was sprawled out on the figure head staring down at the sea. Usopp was making some more hot sauce stars – I could tell because I could smell it from where I was. Chopped was sitting next to him watching with cautious eyes. I guess he was afraid that some of the hot sauce would get in his eyes like I was. Zoro was as usual sleeping on deck. Or it looked like he was sleeping, but with him you could never tell.

I walked over to the small table and spread Nick's map out on it. The map seemed to have been renewed as I went back in time, because I didn't need to worry about it falling apart in my hands. Even though the map's paper seemed to be newer, the ink on the map was still the same, smudged and barely readable.

"X won't always mark the spot. Make your own.'" I read. "What the heck is that suppose to mean?" I said as I growled. It was a stupid riddle, if it could even be called that. If Shay or Zane were here I bet they would know what to do.

Suddenly I felt warm breaths coming from behind me. I jumped up and swung my fist around to punch what ever was sneaking up on me in the face, an old habit that I picked up from Alphonse's pranks. "Hey! That was my eye!" Luffy said. I looked down and he was knocked on his butt rubbing his eye.

"You idiot! What in the world made you think that it was a good idea to sneak up on me?" I asked him. "You looked like you were worried. So I thought you might want some help." he told me. "Hey what's that? Is it a treasure map? Is that your friends?"

I looked over at the map, the wind was licking at the edges of the map. "Yes, it's a treasure map. My friends and I were going to go and look for the treasure when I fell in that dumb hole and somehow ended up here." I said with my hands on my hips.

"So what's it lead too?" he asked while trying to reach for it.

"Ugh! That's the part I don't get. Most treasure maps have some sort of code or riddle to it. And most riddles are pretty simple, something relating to the landmarks around them. But this makes no sense. '_X won't always mark the spot. Make your own' _sounds so; what's the word? Lifestyle-ish. Or a motto or philosophy." I said, thinking out loud. Luffy was still giving me a weird look. "Like any minute I except someone to say '_Hakuna Mata' _or something." I said trying to simplify it.

"... I don't get it." Luffy said after several moments in silence. He scratched his head as he took a seat on the railing., before sticking his finger in his nose. Yuck!

"Sorry. I keep forgetting you aren't from my time." I said as lay down on deck to get some sun. Luffy was just so much like a little kid it never even occurred to me that of course he wouldn't know about the popular children's movie. In fact I could almost picture him walking around singing it in his off key voice.

"Maybe I'll teach it to you sometime." I told him. I meant it too. So both of us could walk around singing in horrible and way to loud voices.

The sun was beating down on the ship with a a ton of heat. It almost made the thought of jumping off the ship into water a pleasant thought. Almost. Except the knowledge that there were tons of monsters just underneath the water.

"Nami! Are we near another island? This weather is crazy!" Chopper called from somewhere on the deck. I leaned up a bit to see behind me. Chopper was sprawled on the deck looking like he was going to die. 'Poor kid,' I thought, 'having to be all furry in this weather.'

Meanwhile Nami was walking along the deck in the new swim suit she had bought to other day. "Not for a while Chopper. This is probably just one of those strange climate changes of the Grand Line." she said while applying more sun screen.

I should be wearing some too. I tend to burn easily. Nami glanced down at me and handed the bottle of sun screen to me. I graciously accepted it, when Robin's hands popped out of nowhere.

"If you're going to wear sun screen, why not come and sun tan with us?" Nami asked and motioned for Robin's hands to lead me towards the girl's cabin to change.

I glanced down at my green t-shirt and jeans. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked. She was there when I picked it out and she hadn't had an issue with it before.

"Nothing, honestly. It's just that since it's so hot outside, why not wear your new bathing suit? You could come and tan with me and Robin. Because truthfully, your legs could use a tan." She said. Normally I would be offended, but it was true. My legs were as white as snow. My arms and face were pretty tan but since I always wore jeans my legs looked like they'd never seen sun before in their entire existence.

"I don't do bathing suits." I said. Wearing a bathing suit would be horrible and, not to mention embarrassing. My skin is so white that if you look at it, you'll go blind. And bathing suits are horrible. I only bought it because Nami insisted. And trust me, if she insists something, it's probably going to happen.

Suddenly there was cannon fire sounding from a little bit to the right of us. Nami and Robin glanced at each other before heading towards the noise. Not exactly my choice of things to do, but I followed anyways.

A ways off on the shimmering ocean was a ship. From where I was and with my horrible eye sight, all I could tell about it was that it was a pirate ship because of its black flag. Ussop was in the crows nest looking through his goggles and shouting something like, "It's those guys again."

"What guys?" I asked squinting into the sun to see the ship better. I don't think I could've seen that far even if I has sunglasses and a telescope. Either he's got great eyes or one heck of a pair of binoculars in those goggles. Then again since he is the sniper, he's have to have pretty good eyes.

"You remember those guys that attacked us the day you came?" Nami asked. By that time she was already in the galley and trying to steer the ship away from them. "They're not really a threat, but this ship is on it's last leg, and I don't think we should put it through any more abuse the necessary." she finished.

Ussop up in the crows nest looked like my brother did whenever we got into all of our fights. "Hey now! Leave Going Merry alone! If we'd just get a proper carpenter, or if you guys would at least help me, this ship could out last us all."

Nami grunted. "Not my job." her voice was cold and slightly detached, but you could tell my the look in her eyes that she was sad that Going Merry was in such a horrible state. I was too. I'm sure that at one point the ship has been beautiful. It still was beautiful in my opinion.

"So it's those guys again?" I asked to anyone who was listening. Sure they had been nothing compared to the Straw Hats but I was still afraid. These guys weren't going to put up with me forever. What if those pirates caught me and these guys decided I wasn't worth their time.

Even in my foggy memory of my time I remembered reading in some old book that had been written by someone who knew them, saying that these guys would go to the ends of the earth for someone they considered a friend. A comrade. Unfortunately for me, I haven't been acting much like a friend, and I don't think you can consider someone who can't fight their way out of a paper bag a comrade.

For a small ship such as the one chasing us, it had an amazing cannon power. It wasn't very accurate but then again it didn't exactly have to be. All it had to do was get close enough to make waves, which it was doing.

Nami and Sanji were at the helm, yanking it this way and that way with an astounding speed and strength. Nami was also managing to direct which way they had to go to avoid some of the worst swells. Usopp was keeping an eyes out on the ship, although his powerful eyes were no longer needed. Even my horrible eyes could see them. He would warn Luffy when ever a cannon was getting to close to Going Merry, to which he would balloon up and bounce them back at the other ship. Zoro was standing right alongside him, slicing cannon balls in half. It shocked me that a human could ever be that strong.

Robin and Chopper (who was in his most human stage) were pulling the sails, putting them in the perfect place for the most likely spot to catch the wind for even more speed.

And what was I doing? Being a bump on a log.

I quickly decided that that wasn't going to do. There was no way that I was just going to be some useless girl that couldn't do anything.

I ran over to Robin and asked her what I could do. She faintly smiled before pointing over to several barrels. "Take them below. They're some of the things that we got from the island that were never put away." she said. I frowned at her about to object, but she stopped me. "We can't have that stuff rolling into the ocean now can we? At the speed we're going they would be lost for sure."

She tried to make it seem like an important job, but to me it seemed like busy work. I stomped off to get the barrels below deck.

Suddenly a cannon ball landed too close to the ship for comfort. I yelped and fell onto my butt before looking over at Luffy and Zoro. They seemed to be busy by the cannon fire towards the front of the ship that they barely even noticed the ones back here. Then again, that's where most of the assault was targeted.

I started to stand up and head towards the barrels that were leaning up against the side of the wall of the galley, but I noticed something. I glanced over at the edge of Going Merry and a hand popped up. My eyes widened and my voice died in my throat because all I could think of was some dead zombie crawling up the side of the ship.

Just as the hand had popped up, so did a head. It was wearing a white helmet with black lightning bolts on the side of it with a small visor in the front. The man finished pulling himself up on to the boat with a loud grunt.

He looked up at me with beady black eyes. "Hello, child. I'm Kanuni, the human cannon ball." He said proudly. He pointed his slender arm out to the ship that was running almost parallel to Going Merry now and said, "I have shot myself out of a cannon over there to bring you back to out boss." he said.

He reminded me of a circus performer that had terrified David when we were little. Kanuni was wearing a white jump suit with black lightning bolts running the entire length of his side, and down his arms and legs.

I stepped back a few feet before bumping against the wall. I glanced around looking for something that I could use as a weapon and found nothing. The rest of the crew were busy trying to get away from the ship that was chasing us.

So that was their plan, huh? They were distracting the rest of the crew while he had snuck aboard with all the confusion. Man, he would've been dead if he had messed up and was shot at Luffy or Zoro. The thought of this creep being bounced back cracked me up.

"Come on now, kid. I don't have time to waste with a am annoying girl like you. I have to get back with you soon." He said and pounced at me. He was swift and precise on his movements, his slender body making it easy for him to move.

I gasped and dove side ways to avoid him. Had he been a normal person he would've crashed into the wall, but if there's anything I've learned from staying in this era is that nothing is normal.

He landed on his feet facing me, ready to pounce again. One glance over my shoulder told me that nobody was even aware that he was here. Luffy and Zoro were arguing about who was destroying the most cannon balls, and lord knows where anyone else was.

Kanuni jumped at me again, his hands out stretched to catch me. Clumsily I reached to the side of me and grabbed an old broom. I stuck it out in front of me, hitting him in the gut. He fell over gasping for breathe as I ran around him.

"Get.. Back... here." He growled trying to to stand. I ran straight ahead, knowing that I would soon come to the railing of the ship. By the time I reached it he was already back on his feet and heading straight for me. His eyes before had been kind of playful, like a cat with a mouse. Now they were dark and evil looking, filled with anger.

I shrunk back against the railing, still waving the broom in front of me. He merely grabbed a hold of the handle and wretched it from my grasp. For such a thin guy he was sure strong. Or maybe I was abnormally weak. "Come on now. Don't make this harder on yourself." He snapped the broom stick in half, " Just come with me to my captain. He'll be happy to see you here."

I shook my head defiantly. No way was I going with this psychopath.

He didn't seem to like that because he leaned down and grabbed my arm, hauling me up off the deck and on to my feet. I gulped as he shook my arm back in forth, my head snapping side to side.

"You can't hurt me," I said. My voice was strong but my body wasn't. My legs were shaking uncontrollably and my brain didn't seem to be working. Why else would I be stupid enough to say that? "Your captain needs me for some reason so you can't hurt me."

"Don't misunderstand kid," he said and smiled like he was hiding the biggest secret in the world. " I can't _kill _you, but I can make you wish that I had."

My eyes widened to impossible lengths as he shoved me overboard. Was he planning to take me over to his captain as a corpse? No, he needed me alive, he said so himself. But for how long?

The water rushed up to meet me and I thought for sure that I was going to crashed into the waves breaking against the ship. Instead I felt two hands holding onto me and throwing me sideways. I landed with a grunt and a 'whoosh' of air as the breath was knocked out of me. I had landed on my back on a few small pieces of wood strung together. Kanuni smiled with pride as he landed much more gracefully next to me.

"Like it? When I was shot out of a cannon ball to over here, I had brought a string that had dragged this over here with us. You like it? I built it myself." He said puffing out his chest like it was the biggest accomplishment in the world.

I rolled over onto my stomach and felt the rough wood bite into my arms. The few pieces of wood that it had been built from were rough and splintered and nails stuck out in several places. Needless to say it was horribly built. A shipwright's nightmare.

He bent down and grabbed a thick rope that had been looped through a small hole in the wood and started to pull. I realized what he was doing when I felt Going Merry's waves getting further and further away.

Panicking I started to move back towards the ship, as if I could just jump up there and be on the ship again. Kanuni saw me heading towards the ship and knocked me back down again then put his foot on me. "Uh uh uhh." He teased. "There's no way you're getting back on the ship. I need you to come with me."

Waves were letting water come up over the edge of the wood and splash into my face. Salt blinded me and I tried to shift so I could see Going Merry again. The last thing I saw before a slight prick in the back of my neck was the back of Going Merry disappearing as she went further away, before I faded into darkness.

XXX

The pirates were suddenly pulling away from the Straw Hats ship after Usopp has shot a cannon ball fairly accurately as the front of their ship.

'We did it,' Nami thought as she and Sanji released their death grips on the whipstaff. She walked back outside and saw Luffy shouting over to the other ship, saying something about how if they came back again that he would kick their butts.

Nami shook her head at his reaction and headed towards Robin and Chopper, who were both looking exhausted. She scanned her eyes over the ship and saw Luffy and Zoro still standing on the railing, Usopp coming up from the cannon deck and Sanji lighting a cigarette. She scanned one more time, but she still didn't see Taylor.

Nami turned back to ask them if they'd seen Taylor, but Robin was one step ahead of her.

"The barrels." she said quietly. Nami could see the barrels that they were suppose to have put away the other day, but never got around to it. She went to ask what was wrong with them when Robin continued. "Taylor wanted to help us so I told her to put the barrels away. But I assume she never did."

Nami frowned. Sure Taylor was an annoying girl who didn't seem to focus on anything but her lost friends and that treasure map that Nami was itching to get her hands on, but she didn't seem to be _that irresponsible._ Besides, it was Taylor who had asked what she could do, so why ask and then not do it?

Both of the girls headed over to the barrels, with Chopper following close behind. Luffy and Zoro jumped down from the railing, wondering what they were doing. Nami looked around the area of the barrels only to find nothing. There did seem to be more water over the deck than in other places, but she didn't think much of it.

Robin meanwhile had headed back to the back of the ship. She lifted the broken broom stick and inspected it. "Nami? Look at this." she handed it over to Nami. The broom stick was broken in half leaving two splintered ends.

Luffy walked over to them, expecting to see Taylor standing with them. He was smiling super wide, wondering if she had seen him blow the cannon balls back. He knew it was a bit show offy, but he didn't really care. That was just his personality. He loved to see the shock on people's faces whenever they saw him in action.

When he didn't see Taylor standing there he looked around Nami and Robin, like she would be hiding behind them. "Hey, where'd Taylor go?" He whined. "I wanted to ask her if she saw that."

Nami handed him the broken broom stick before saying, "I think something might have happened here. Why don't we search the rest of the ship for her first though." She walked off to go and search for her.

Chopper walked away to try and find her. Maybe she had gotten scared and hid below deck or something. He stopped walking when he saw a piece of paper lying on the wet deck. He unfolded it, the paper stuck together and the ink it was written on was smudged.

_Dear Crew, _

_ Sorry you guys. You've all been great to me but that's not enough. I'm going with the other pirates. They want me to be a part of their crew. So thanks but no thanks, I'm going with them. Check ya later._

_ Your ex-friend_

_ Taylor_

Chopper frowned as he reread the letter. It didn't sound like Taylor. Taylor for one wouldn't have left, and two wouldn't refer to her self as their ex-friend. His frown got deeper as he thought. Would she really leave? Surely they hadn't been that bad of friends.

"Nami, I found something over here." Chopper waved the letter high above his head to get her attention. He gave her it to her when she reached him. She read it several times before flipping it over and then back over again.

"Where did you find this Chopper?" she asked. Chopper pointed where his feet where. He then pointed up to a nail that was hammered into the side of the ship. "I think it might have fallen from there." his voice got smaller as he looked over at Nami. "You don't think she really left, do you? She didn't seem to even know them when we first met, so why would she go with them now?"

Nami sighed and placed her hand on his head. "I'm not sure Chopper. I can't even tell if this is even her hand writing because it's so smudged."

Chopper looked down in disappointment. He had been hoping Nami would say that this had all been a joke. That at any minute Taylor would come around the corner and say "Ha! Gotcha!" and then they would all laugh. He looked around and realized that wasn't going to happen.

Luffy held the broom in his hands as he came over to Nami. She read the note out loud for everyone to hear. Luffy didn't believe it. Not a single word of it. Taylor was their friend, she wouldn't do anything like that- it didn't even seem in her nature. He was normally pretty good at telling whether people were trustworthy. Maybe it would just be like Nami? Maybe Taylor had things that she couldn't handle by herself. But she was from the future, so that didn't make sense. The more Luffy thought about it, the more his brain hurt.

"Some thing's wrong here." Nami said as she crumpled the paper. Everyone silently agreed with her.

Zoro hadn't trusted Taylor from the moment he saw her. She just looked too... what was the word? It wasn't innocent, especially not after he had seen her haul Luffy half way up from the 'bottom' of the ocean. She was short tempered when she didn't get her way, as seen when they wouldn't help her go back to look for Nick.

Part of him wanted to give her a benefit of a doubt. She had just suddenly fallen back in time and they were expecting her to understand the complex ways of the Grand Line, when no one now even understood it. But she had said that she knew the Grand Line was dangerous. She should know stuff like that, no matter what time your from. The other part of him was very suspicious of her. How did they know she had really fallen back in time? She could have easily been lying to get on the Straw Hats ' good sides so she could strike with her captain later. And maybe this 'kidnapping' was all just a part of it.

Whatever the case was, Luffy seemed to want to talk to her again. He was trying to get Nami to try and follow the pirates. She told him repeatedly that she couldn't, that they would have to wait until they could get to the next island, then they could start looking for her there. Those Pirates would have to land sometime.

Usopp stood there wondering what he should do. He wasn't sure whether to help convince Nami to try to follow the ship, as dumb as that sounded, or if he should just watch the ship leave and look on the next island they got too. Taylor had been one of the few people (aside from Luffy and Chopper) who would sit and listen carefully to his stories. She didn't always look amused or even interested, but she was always listening. She said that over years of listening to her friend Grace she had gotten used to listening to long, crazy stories.

"Luffy, what don;t you understand that we can't go. We have to wait until the next island." Nami said while walking away from Luffy. He was driving her up the wall about chasing after the pirates.

Luffy looked ready to argue, but settled for pouting. "Fine," Luffy said after two more hours of staring at the water where they had faded into the horizon. "The second we land we're looking for her."

No one in the crew understood why they even needed to save her. They were pirates, they don't save people. Even so they all knew and felt like they had to save her. They weren't mean or heartless enough to just deny this girl help when they considered her a friend.

XXX

Hey guys, sorry about being gone for so long. Wow, almost a whole year. Or maybe it has been a whole year. Anyways, I'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting. That is if any of you are still waiting for this story's chapter. Sorry guys. You can chew me out if you want.

Some thanks for all the reviews!

beyond-the-oaks

SilentEchoXx

TwisterF5

LuffyxRuby

dadeedoo

Thomas Drovin

Onitsu Blackfeather

SakuraDagger15

Sayonara Yasashii Akumu

Silverromance

Xieana

WhAt EvA u WaNt My NaMe To Be

MoriOokami

Sora Tayuya

Chey3X

Snow246

Tashi

Manderss.x.x

LEMIG


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